As Long as We're Together
by snakeboy33
Summary: Lucy manages to catch Natsu before he and Happy leave for a year of training. The two then promise that they will always be together, even as the guild disbands. NaLu all the way, with a few other pairings probably sprinkled in.
1. Together

_**Together**_

"Do you know where exactly we're going?" Happy asked.

"Meh," Natsu answered with a slight shrug, "Wherever we can train, I guess."

"Well, where's that?" Happy asked, floating beside him.

"Dunno," Natsu said, with a slight shrug, "Let's just…"

"NATSU!" Natsu paused to look behind him, who saw that Lucy was running after him. Taking a breath, he rubbed the back of his head. He had honestly wanted to leave before she could catch up to him, since he knew it would be that much harder to leave. But Natsu had a feeling this might happen, so he turned to face her.

"Lu…" Natsu couldn't finish, as he was suddenly tackled into the ground. _That_ he hadn't been expecting, as Lucy pinned him, glaring down through his tears.

"You damn idiot," she all but whimpered, "What were you thinking?"

"I…"

"You didn't even have the decency to face me and tell me yourself?" Lucy demanded, "Just a little note? Are you serious?"

"I…" Once again, Natsu was interrupted, but this time by a sound slap across the face. There was a period of silence, as even Lucy seemed surprised by what she just did, looking at her hand. For a moment, Natsu just stared, before slowly putting his own hand to his cheek.

"Okay," Natsu said softly with a weak smile, "I may have had that coming."

"Yeah, you probably did," Happy added.

 **(a few minutes later)**

Eventually, the "discussion" was moved to the park, where the two were sitting on the bench, with Happy in between them.

"So, what was the long term plan?" Lucy said, "Just wander around aimlessly?"

"I don't think Natsu had much of a plan," Happy piped up.

"I would've thought of something," Natsu protested. Lucy would've laughed about that, but wasn't even remotely in the mood. She just stared at the hands.

"We would've been back real soon," Natsu insisted.

"A year is not 'soon'," Lucy said, glaring at him.

"Well, you wouldn't have been alone," Natsu said, "And you'd have your spirits." While he didn't know, he quickly noticed how much further Lucy's face fell, as she stared straight at the ground.

"What is it?" Natsu asked.

"Aquarius… she's… she's" Lucy couldn't finish, before she resumed crying. Natsu was confused.

"What about her?" Happy asked, "Did you lose her key or something?" Lucy's face tightened even further, as her hands came up to her face.

"Come on, what's up?" Natsu asked, "You can…"

"I BROKE IT!" Natsu and Happy just stared at her in surprise.

"It.. it was the only way to save the guild," Lucy slowly explained, "When everyone got sucked into the Tartaros Cube, I had to summon the Celestial Spirit King and…"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Natsu asked. He had absolutely no idea about such a thing happening. All this time Lucy had been feeling this way and never even told him. He knew what Aquarius meant to her, and the knowledge that she had to actually break Aquarius key to save the guild….

"That settles it!" Natsu declared, folding his arms, "We ain't leaving!"

"Aye sir!" Happy declared, floating next to him. Lucy looked at him, wiping her tears away.

"We're a team aren't we?" she asked weakly.

"You bet we are," Natsu said, giving her the thumbs up.

"Promise me, you won't leave me," Lucy said, leaning forward. For a moment, Natsu was silent, before smiling.

"Damn right," he said, before pressing his forehead to Lucy's, "We're a team. I ain't going anywhere." Lucy's chin quivered more, before she threw her arms around Natsu, sobbing; after a pause, Natsu wrapped his arms around the blonde.

"You looove her!" Happy said, floating next to them.

 **(next day, at the guild ruins)**

The whole guild was gathered at what remained of the guild hall, waiting for the Master to give his announcement.

"What do you think this is about?" Wendy asked.

"Maybe he'll tell us where we're rebuilding," Cana suggested.

"At the rate we're going, we'll blow through all of Magnolia," Levy said.

"At least it wasn't me or Juvia doing it this time," Gajeel said, standing next to her.

As the whole of the guild murmured to each other, Natsu and Lucy were staying quiet while standing next to each other. Happy was perched on Lucy's shoulder, as they waited. Soon enough, Makarov arrived, and stared down at them.

"So, what the hell is this all about, old man?" Laxus said. For a time, the guild master was quiet, as he took a breath.

"So much has happened now," he said, "Too much for you to remain tied to anyone place. You all need to spread your wings and find your ways." Everyone just exchanged looks, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Is there a point to this?" Laxus asked. There was a period of silence, as if Makarov had to actively reach down and pull the words out.

"As of now, I'm officially disbanding Fairy Tail."

Nobody said anything, as they all just stared at the master, as the words loomed over them. It seemed like it would be a joke, but everyone knew that Makarov would never, ever joke about such a thing. The silence seemed to last for an eternity, until quite possibly the most expected person spoke up.

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!" Natsu all but roared, leaping up to the where the Master was, "You can't disband the guild!"

"I just did," Makarov said plainly, "It is my right as guild master."

"How could you!" Gray shouted this time.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Elfman shouted.

"I'm not sure," Makarov answered, "But I have no doubt you will find your way." Before anyone could say anything, he turned to walk away.

"Don't walk away from us!" Natsu shouted at him, "You can't…"

"DO AS YOU'RE TOLD!" Makarov bellowed, "My decision is final!" That silenced even Natsu, as he just stared as Makarov just slowly walked away, leaving everyone alone.

Eventually, everyone dispersed to figure out what they were going to do. Natsu, however, stayed, sitting in the rubble, staring at the ground. Happy was standing next to him, looking up. When Lucy approached, he looked at her, and just pointed at the Dragon Slayer.

"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked, as she sat beside him. It took what felt like a full minute for him to fully answer.

"I don't know," Natsu said, "After Igneel disappeared, all I had was Fairy Tail. It… it can't be gone." He buried his face in his hands, which made Lucy's heart plummet.

"It may be gone officially, but everyone's still here, right?" she asked, putting a hand on his knee.

"Its not the same!" Natsu snapped, looking up, where Lucy saw tears dripping down his face, "They're all leaving!" Lucy wanted to comfort him, and say it would all be alright, but couldn't found the words. Instead, she just stared at the floor, trying to think of anything to say. Finally, she found at least some words.

"We're together, that's what matters most, right?" Lucy said, reaching up to touch Natsu's face. The Dragon Slayer was quiet for a time, as he kept his own eyes on the floor, before finally looking at the blonde.

"We're a team, and long as we're together," Lucy said, stroking his cheek, "we'll be fine."

"Yeah," Natsu said, rubbing away some tears, "I guess so."

After that, the two stared at each other, as they savored the moment they had between each other. The two then slowly leaned forward, and gently kissed.

"I knew you loooved her," Happy said. And the night only took off from there.

 **(one year later)**

Lucy yawned and stretched as she got up, glancing over, she saw that the other side of the bed was empty, save for a note.

 _Lucy, Happy and I went to work early. See you at lunch._

Lucy sighed slightly. One would think after a full year his handwriting would've improved at least some. She supposed that was too much to hope. Climbing out of bed, she went into the bedroom to take a shower. It had been a year since Fairy Tail disbanded, and everyone went on their own. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had all stayed together in that time, as they had to.

After finishing the shower, Lucy started to get dressed, but once she was finished, her attention was drawn to some soft noises coming from the other side of the room. There sat a small crib, and in that crib, a baby boy with a mop of spiky blonde hair.

"Good morning, Iggy," Lucy cooed as she walked over and reached into the crib, and picked up up, "Did you have sweet dreams?" Her son, and first child, Igneel Jude Heartfilia-Dragneel, just giggled and smiled at his mother. As he did, Lucy found it hard to believe that he was already three months old. It almost made her dread the coming years.

"Come on, sweetie," she said as she carried him into the kitchen, "We've got a day to seize."

 **Note: Sort of just a little pet project I've had mulling in my head all the way since boot camp. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, more stories need to take this disbandment concept. I've only seen a few that set the story in this period, particularly ones centered around Natsu. There is so much story telling potential that the manga didn't use that I feel it is almost our obligation to write more about it. I urge people to take these kinds of stories and seize them. This is just one of multiple disbandment stories I've been considering.**

 **Anyone wanna guess what Natsu and Happy's new job is?**

 **Be sure to review.**

 **And don't worry, they didn't do it in the rubble.**


	2. One Year Later

_**One Year Later**_

Setting Iggy in a bouncing seat on the table, and handing him his stuffed dragon, Lucy turned to the stove to make breakfast. She was somewhat relieved to know that she wouldn't have to cook for Natsu and Happy this morning, since it would've probably have eaten up a good chunk of her time. It was sometimes a wonder that they hadn't already gone bankrupt from all the food she had to buy. As she was cooking, she heard Iggy whining, and she quickly deduced that he was hungry. Picking him up, Lucy sat down, and pulled aside her shirt so he could suckle, which he enthusiastically started doing.

"Of all the things you had to get from your dad, couldn't you have gone without his appetite?" Lucy jokingly griped. As she fed Iggy, she thought about when he would move to solid food; if his current attitude was indicative of anything, chances are the family would _definitely_ be bankrupt, probably within a year.

As she cuddled with her child, she looked around the apartment she shared with Natsu. After the guild disbanded, Natsu and Lucy had to find new jobs. Eventually, it brought them to Crocus, where they found out that Lucy was pregnant. Using the money Natsu had saved up, they managed to find a new, larger, and somewhat nicer apartment, where they were now raising their family. On top of that, after they realized Lucy was pregnant, the two had decided to get married. It was a actually a rather small affair, with only Hisui, the King, and whoever they knew who happened to be in the area attending. They hadn't invited their friends from the guild, but Lucy got the distinct impression Natsu didn't want them to come, so they didn't.

Though the two had been fairly happy together, they hadn't seen any of their friends from Fairy Tail since the guild disbanded. Natsu in particular didn't seem to want to go looking for them, as he kept saying that they didn't need to meet with them. "We've all moved on" is what he'd always be saying. It worried Lucy some that he was so dismissive of their friends now.

Eventually, Iggy was satisfied, and after getting some food for yourself, Lucy set him back in his seat to finish getting ready. Once she was finished dressing and put her makeup on, she picked up her son.

"Let's get you to daycare," Lucy said, and upon seeing the baby frowning, she added, "Don't give me that look, Mister, it ain't my fault." Though she would've preferred to bring him with her to work today, her task for the day was to report on the Grand Magic Games, and she wasn't allowed to bring her baby with her to such an event. It frustrated her, but nothing could be done about it, and Natsu couldn't take care of him, so she arranged for him to spend the day at daycare.

"We're going to do our best!" Lucy declared, pumping her fist as she started her day.

 **(at the stadium)**

After dropping Iggy off at his daycare, Lucy hurried over to the stadium. It was the last couple days of the Games, though they weren't nearly as good as they were last year; none of the good guild like Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, or Mermaid Heel were participating. When she got there, the first thing she did was go to a couple of guards.

"Do you know where the commander is?" she asked. The guards pointed her in the direction, and she hurried over to the Northern entrance. Once she got there, she looked around, but couldn't find the man she was looking for.

"Lucy!" The blonde then turned to see her husband running over to her, Happy floating next to him. Natsu was wearing his work uniform, which consisted of a red and black coat over a black shirt, and black pants. He had a couple of medals on his right breast, and his classical scarf. Happy was wearing a red and black jacket with black pants (which in hindsight made Lucy think that he had spent the whole time naked).

"What're you doing here?" Natsu asked, when he got over to her.

"Since you were already gone when I woke up, I wanted to say hi before the event started," Lucy answered, "So, how are things here?"

"Boring as ever," Natsu said with a sigh, "Wish something would happen."

"We had a streaker yesterday," Happy said, "It was weird seeing a guy other than Gray strip."

"Thanks for putting that image in my head," Lucy said with a slight sweat drop.

"Commander!" The three turned, to see an average infantry soldier running forward. Once he got to them, he saluted.

"Sir, Sergeant Livingston reports! We've found more vandalism on the East wall!"

"Really, again?" Natsu said with a sigh, "Damn kids. Just clean it up; I'll post more guards there in the night."

"Yes, Commander!" After nearly a full year, it was still rather mind boggling to hear that.

After the disbandment, they were actually rather hard pressed to find a job. Unlike the others, Natsu bluntly refused to join any other guild on principle, and unfortunately, he didn't have much of a skill set beyond fighting. Fortunately, when they moved to Crocus after Lucy got her job in Sorcerer Weekly, the king offered Natsu a commission to the Royal Army as a lieutenant, saying that he earned it in during the whole Eclipse debacle; initially Natsu turned it down, but when they found out about Lucy's pregnancy, he took the offer. After only a year, Natsu was promoted from Lieutenant to Commander, mostly for his efforts in bringing down various gangs throughout the country. Initially, while Natsu clearly wasn't happy with the new restrictions put on him by being in the military, he put up with it for his family. Happy, of all cats, also joined, now serving as Natsu's assistant, becoming the first "cat soldier" as Happy put it. Natsu was now in commander of the 7th Fiore Army Regiment, and was currently tasked with serving as the guy in charge for the security of the Games. Though it was boring, they all knew they were lucky; Natsu could have just as easily been deployed to some distant fortress.

"The Games are almost over," Lucy said, "You'd think they'd lose interest by now."

"I dunno," Natsu answered with a shrug, "I'd go deal with them myself, but Happy said I'd get in trouble if I tried sniffing them out."

"Because you would," Happy said plainly.

"Hate to agree with Happy, but he's right," Lucy said, "You're a soldier now, and soldiers don't go breaking into people's houses looking for troublesome kids."

"Gah," Natsu groaned, "Being a soldier is so boring."

"Come on, you've made it this far," Lucy said, "At the rate you're going, you'll probably get another promotion soon." Natsu sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I just need a damn break," Natsu said, "I need a day with Iggy."

"Then you have all the more to look forward to once you get off of work today," Lucy said, patting him on the cheek, "Well, I've got to go now, the Games are starting soon."

"I'll be watching from the top," Natsu said, "Its the closet I can be while still technically being on duty."

"I'll look for you then," Lucy said, before kissing her husband on the cheek, "See ya!" The three all waved to each other as Lucy hurried into the stadium stands.

 **(at home)**

After the day came to a close, the Dragneel family was at the table eating dinner. Happy sat on the table eating his fish, sitting beside Iggy who was asleep in his seat.

"So, what're you going to do now that the games are finally over?" Lucy asked.

"Dunno yet," Natsu answered, "I hear they might be sending me to deal with some bandits just North of here."

"Ah, that's too bad," Lucy said with a pout, "Means you'd be away from home."

"Eh, I wouldn't be gone long, I can deal with it in just a few days."

"But still…"

"It'll be real easy," Happy said, "Natsu won't even need all his men to do it."

"Yeah, besides, gods know we can't let the Council do it," Natsu declared, rolling his eyes. Something the group had learned since Natsu and Happy enlisted was that the Council really wasn't liked in the Royal Army. They were thought of intrusive bureaucrats that regularly shoved their noses in others' affairs, and demanded constant submission from mages. Also, they always somehow had the right to take away criminals who committed crimes against the kingdom, just by claiming it was related to magic. Natsu and Happy had picked up on that attitude as well, and Lucy and to admit, she agreed with their opinion somewhat; Fiore was a sovereign country, and the Council had no right to interfere in its internal affairs.

As they continued eating, Lucy's mind went to things that they could do as a family. In the past year, they hadn't had many opportunities to get out of Crocus and just do something. That was when she remembered something that she heard at work earlier today.

"You've got some leave built up, right?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, why?" Natsu answered.

"Well, I heard that Lamia Scale will be having its Thanksgiving Festival in a few days," Lucy said, "Sorcerer Weekly often sends someone down there to report on it."

"So?"

"Well, I was thinking about volunteering for it. Wendy, Gray, and Juvia will probably be there," Lucy continued, reaching over to Iggy's seat and rocking it slightly, "It'd be great to see them again, and we could introduce them to Iggy."

"Carla will be there too!" Happy said, raising a paw. Natsu was silent, as he averted his eyes, and downed his drink.

"Why should we?" he finally said, shocking both Lucy and Happy.

"Natsu!" Lucy scolded standing up, "How could you say that? They're our friends, and we haven't seen them in over a year now!"

"I bet they've all moved on. Why would they want to see us now that they've got their new guild and their new friends?" Natsu said, not looking up, "We've moved on too, haven't we?"

"Oh come on, just because we're not in the same guild anymore doesn't mean we aren't friends," Lucy said, "Think about all we've gone through with them."

"Yeah, I do," Natsu said, staring at his food still, and clenching his fists hard. Lucy glared at him for a time, before sighing, and sitting back down.

"Well, one way or another, I'm going," Lucy declared, folding her arms, "And I'm taking Iggy with me"

"Hey!"

"He deserves to meet them, and they deserve to meet him."

"Aye! I'm going too!" Happy said, frowning, and floating up, "I wanna see Carla."

"There it is, Natsu," Lucy said, with a nod, "You can stay here and mope on your own, or you can come and enjoy some time with your wife, son, and friends. So what'll it be?" Natsu opened his mouth to argue more, but apparently lost the motivation as he sighed, and shrugged.

"Fine, I'll come," he relented.

"Good, that's what I like to hear," Lucy said with a nod, before smiling and learning forward, putting her hand over his, "You'll see. We'll see them all, have a good time, and be happy we did it, just wait."

"Whatever," Natsu said, averting his eyes.

 **Note: Yep, I put Natsu in the army, because let's be real, he can't do much beyond fight. I considered making him a mercenary, but decided not to since it would prevent him from really settling down. A pretty short chapter as they go, but I think this establishes where Natsu and Lucy stand.**

 **I'm also willing to take some suggestions on where the other guild members will have gone after Fairy Tail disbanded. So far, I put Gray and Juvia in Lamia Scale with Wendy and Carla; I didn't want to do the Avatar arc, and I think it was a good fit for them. I'll also take this time to say that this story will include a completely original arc, of which I won't reveal much of.**

 **Be sure to review.**

 **I'll take this as a brief opportunity to respond a Guest reviewer. I think some people have have misunderstood what I was going for in the scene when Lucy stops Natsu. I wasn't trying to say that Natsu was in the wrong for what he was doing (I actually agree with the perspective that people are too hard on him for leaving), I was more trying to express a sense of raw emotion Lucy is feeling, and the raw response she gives. In the end, Natsu decides that he feels better by being together with Lucy, instead of going out on his own.**


	3. Lamia Scale's Thanksgiving

_**Lamia Scale's Thanksgiving**_

The trip to Margaret Town, where Lamia Scale was based, took about two days on foot, or half a day on train. Seeing as they were traveling with a baby, Lucy decided for the whole family that they were doing the latter, much to the despair of Natsu, and probably Iggy too if the baby understood what was happening.

As their are were riding, Natsu was keeled over his seat across from his wife, struggling to keep himself from puking every last gut out. As for Iggy, while he would otherwise be in his baby carrier, he was now in his mother's arms, whining and fussing. Lucy did everything she could to comfort him, but nothing seemed to be working; she made a mental note to ask Wendy about maybe using Troia on him.

"By the gods," Lucy said to her son, "Did you inherit anything from me other than my hair color?" Iggy's response was just to fuss some more.

"Aaah!" Natsu groaned, "The others ain't worth this suffering!"

"I can't wait to see Carla!" Happy said, ignoring Natsu, "I want to show her how strong I've become!"

"Hold your fishys, Happy," Lucy said, "We're just going to visit them; we're not going to do anything extreme."

"Are you kidding?" Happy said, "Extreme things follow us everywhere we go."

"I guess that's true," Lucy said with a chuckle, as she shifted the still fussing Iggy in her arms.

 **(in Margaret Town)**

Eventually the Dragneel family made it to town, and were starting to make their way to the town center, where the performance was being hold. As they were walking, Iggy woke up, and from his position in his baby carrier, and was looking around in wonder at the new place.

"Hurry up," Lucy said, gesturing, "I don't want to get there late."

"I know, I know," Natsu said, rolling his eyes, a gesture Lucy promptly returned, as they kept walking. Soon enough they made it to the town center, where a sizable stage was set up, with Lamia Scale's sigil draped behind it.

"What's up everyone?" Yuka said as he came onto the stage, apparently serving as the show's MC, "You ready for another great Lamia Scale Thanksgiving?" The crowd cheered in response, indicating a strong "yes".

"Then let's get this show started!" With that, the show began, and the guild made there way through their various members, though the absence of Jura was rather conspicuous. Both Natsu and Lucy knew that he was among the Wizard Saints that elected to reform the Magic Council. It was a shame, Lucy would've loved to see what he could've brought to the show.

"Coming up next, its our own two Frozen Fellows!" Lyon then emerged, with Gray right next to him.

"You guys ready for a show?" Gray said, raising his fist, getting more cheers in response. The two fist-bumped each other, and held their hands in the air. From their hands emerged a glittering stream of ice particles that coalesced into the symbol of the guild. However, something else caught the audience's attention.

"Where's his shirt?" somebody shouted. Lucy then chuckled slightly, however, despite the impressive display, she felt somewhat awkward seeing the Lamia Scale mark on Gray's chest instead of the Fairy Tail one. Lucy heard Natsu grunt, as she noticed him looking away.

"Let's hear it for the Rain Lady, Juvia!" The blue-haired woman then sent a stream of water that formed into a three-dimensional version of the mark.

"I'm noticing a theme here," Natsu said, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Well, to be fair, we didn't do so much different in Fantasia," Lucy commented, as she rubbed Iggy's head slightly. Natsu just scoffed, as he averted his eyes again.

"Can we go now?" he asked.

"No, as matter of fact we can't."

"I'm sure Iggy doesn't like all the noise," Natsu said, looking to his son for agreement, only to see the baby laughing and waving his arms, clearly having the time of his life.

"Looks like you're outvoted," Lucy said, as she bent down and kissed the top of her baby's head.

"Traitor," Natsu grumbled, though he was ignored.

"And last, and far from least, its our guild's pride and joy: the Sky Sisters, Chelia and Wendy!" Lucy couldn't help but smile as the two girls emerged from behind stage in their angel costumes, and began their song. And it was a good song on top of that.

As they were singing, Natsu snorted, and glared into space, and despite his past attitude, Lucy couldn't help but understand how it felt for him. Aside from Happy, Lucy, Erza, and on occasion Gray, one of Natsu's closest relationships was with Wendy. Ever since she joined he thought of her as a little sister, and treated her as such; and while Natsu wouldn't admit it, after she turned down an offer to come with them to join Lamia Scale, it really hurt his feelings.

"Thank you all for coming to our show!" Wendy said, waving her hands, "Be sure to come back next year! And remember, love is forever!"

"Forever!" Happy piped up with the rest of the crowd as the show came to its close.

"Great, the show's over, and we saw them," Natsu said, "Can we… GAH!" Lucy tugged his ear closer as she leaned towards him.

"Alright sweetie, I'm only going to say this once," the blonde said, "Now that the show's over, we're going to the guild hall to meet with them. If you don't stow the attitude here and now, you're sleeping on the couch for the next week. Am I clear?" While a week may not have seemed like much all things considered, for Natsu, it may as well have been seven years. When Natsu didn't answer immediately, Lucy tugged harder.

"Am. I. Clear?"

"Yes!"

"Good to know," Lucy said with her own nod as she let her husband go, before leading the way, with her husband in tow, rubbing his ear.

As the family made its way to the guild hall, watching from the shadows was a group of men. One of them looked decisively snake-like, who fittingly enough, had a red snake coiled around his neck.

"Why can't we attack now?" one of the men demanded, "Their guard is down."

"Be patient, Lamia Scale will reap its punishment," the snake-man said, with a sinister grin, "We have to listen to instructions from the boss." The snake then leaned into his ear and hissed slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," the mage grumbled, frowning, "You don't need to tell me again. Just wait, we'll give them a night they won't ever forget."

 **(at Lamia Scale)**

With the show done, the guild members returned to their guild hall to unwind some. Wendy sat slouched on the bench, her cheeks so red they were practically glowing.

"That was so embarrassing," Wendy moaned.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Chelia said from behind her, as she took off some of her props, "You were great."

"You've been doing these for a while," Gray said, leaning on a column nearby, "You think you'd be used to them by now."

"Juvia was happy to show off," Juvia said, "It was fun."

"Easy for you to say," Wendy mumbled.

"Yo!" Lyon called, earning their attention, while jerking his thumb back, "You guys got some visitors." Coming up from behind him were three very familiar faces.

"What's up?"

"Hey everyone!"

"Hi everybody!"

"Natsu! Lucy! Happy!" Wendy said happily as she saw them walking up.

"Hey! How've you guys been?" Gray said, waving slightly.

"Pretty good all things continued," Lucy answered, "Its good to get out out big city for once."

"So what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Gray asked.

"Well aside from just wanting to see you, the magazine runs a story on the festival, and I volunteered to do it," Lucy said, taking a seat at the table while Natsu stood behind her.

"Oh yeah," Juvia said, "You write for Sorcerer Weekly now, don't you?"

"Yep."

"I love your articles," Chelia said, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling a magazine out, "Can you sign it?" Lucy was surprised by the offer, but quickly smiled.

"Happy to," she said as she took it, and promptly autographed it.

"That's certainly a shame," a familiar voice said. The Dragneels turned to see a young girl with should length white hair in a black dress and tie. A cat hairpin was in he hair, but what really caught the eye was the white cat tail coming out of her back, and a pair of cat ears coming out of the top of the head.

"Whose that?" Happy asked.

"Look at me again, and take a guess, tomcat," the girl said with a playful smirk. After a couple moments, the Dragneels all took two and two together.

"Carla?!" Happy said.

"The one and only."

"Why are you human?!" Natsu demanded, asking the question on his family's mind, speaking for the first time since walking in.

"I learned some transformation magic in the past year," Carla explained proudly, running her hand through her hair to show off, "It not only makes me a better fighter, but it hones my precognition."

"Wow," Happy murmured.

"So, what do you think, Happy?" Carla asked teasingly, leaning down slightly. Happy just looked her over a couple times, contemplating what he was seeing.

"Why do you have four ears?" he finally asked. Carla opened then closed her mouth, not really sure how to answer.

"Well then," she finally said, changing the subject, "What have you been doing the past year?"

"I've been training a lot!" Happy said, folding his paws and holding his head with pride, "I'm now a lot stronger!"

"Whatever you say," Carla said with a slight chuckle; she doubted being able to resist fish better than before qualified as being "stronger".

"What about you Natsu?" Wendy asked, smiling, "What've you been doing?"

"Stuff," Natsu said, as he looking away again.

"What sort of stuff?"

"Just stuff," Natsu answered plainly. Wendy opened her mouth to keep talking, but when Natsu frowned at her, she closed her mouth, and looked down.

"What's with you?" Gray asked, giving his own frown.

"What's it to you?" Natsu answered, glancing at him. Quick enough to notice and act on the tension, Lucy seized the moment.

"Everyone," she said, "I have someone we all want you to meet." She then reached into her baby carrier, which everyone finally seemed to notice.

"Is that…," Juvia began, pointing.

"Everyone, this is Igneel Jude Heartfilia-Dragneel," Lucy said, holding up the baby, who looked around at the new people surrounding his parents, "Our son."

"EHHH!" That seemed to be the resounding feeling from everyone.

"Con…Congratulations!" Wendy finally said with a smile.

"You must be so happy!" Chelia said.

"So you're finally a man, Flame Breath," Gray said with a grin.

"Now that she's not Juvia's love rival anymore, can Juvia be Lucy's friend?" Juvia asked, leaning forward.

"I never even realized you weren't," Lucy answered with a slight sweat drop. As she was holding Iggy up, Wendy noticed her wedding band on her finger.

"Wait a minute, you guys got married too?" Lucy just nodded.

"Why the hell weren't we invited?" Gray asked.

"Tch," Natsu grunted slightly, earning a glare from his wife.

"It was a small ceremony," Lucy answered, "there really wasn't much to see."

"But still…," Gray said, looking to the side.

"How old is your son?" Carla asked.

"Only a couple months," Lucy answered, "We call him Iggy for short." She then held him out.

"Would you like to hold him?" Carla looked surprised by the offer, but after Lucy showed her how to hold him, she agreed, and gently took the baby in her arms. The process woke Iggy up as he yawned and looked up at Carla. Apparently she must've reminded him of Happy (whom he adored, sometimes to Happy's chagrin), as he reached up to her happily. Though Carla was still surprised, she smiled slightly as everyone gathered around her.

"Hi, I'm your Aunt Juvia," Juvia said, over him her finger, which he happily took, "You're the cutest thing Juvia's ever seen."

"Hey little guy," Gray said, "Sure glad you've got your mom's hair; I'd feel real bad if you got that unmanly hair." He glanced at Natsu, expecting his typical outburst, but the Dragon Slayer continued to scowl and look away.

"Alright," Natsu suddenly said as he elbowed his way in, "That's enough." He then picked his son, and stepped back. As babies went, Iggy wasn't much of a crier; he was generally a cheerful, and all around happy boy. But after being taken away, his eyes started to water, and his chin started to quiver, making it clear what was about to happen. Despite everything, Natsu wasn't about to let his son start crying, as he eventually handed him to Wendy before Iggy could start crying.

Wendy took this as an opportunity, as she some led at the baby, and puffed some magic wind into his face slightly, delighting the baby. Iggy then snuggled into Wendy's chest some, making her smile some. While Lucy smiled at her son and friend, Natsu just looked at the ground, clenching his fists. After a couple more minutes, the Dragon Slayer took this as an opportunity to try and get away again.

"Come on Lucy, we've got to go, its Iggy's nap time," Natsu said. For once, he wasn't just making an excuse to get away, it was indeed Iggy's nap time. To reinforce his point, Iggy chose that as opportunity to yawn.

"He's right," Lucy said, holding out her arms, which Wendy returned after giving Igneel another slight hug.

"We'll be staying here a couple days," Lucy said, standing up while putting Iggy back in his carrier, "I've got to report on the guild some more anyway, so we'll be back tomorrow."

"Alright then," Lyon said, "We'll see you then." With that, the Dragneels took their leave to go back to their inn.

"Geez, Natsu needs to get that stick out of his ass," Gray said, folding his arms.

"Its still good to see them, though," Wendy said, "Isn't it?"

"Its good to see Happy hasn't changed," Carla said, turning back into a cat, "I honestly couldn't see him any other way."

"I can't believe they had a baby," Juvia said, "Gray! We should have our own baby! We have to give Iggy a friend to play with."

"Um, that's a little too quick," Gray said.

"You know, I'm still available," Lyon said, raising his hand, "I'd be quite happy to build a family with you."

"Juvia's not so sure anymore."

 **Note: I think it goes without saying that Natsu and Wendy's relationship is one of my favorites, and honestly, if I were writing** _ **Fairy Tail**_ **, I would've had Natsu take Wendy's initial rejection to rejoin them a lot worse.**

 **I've got the alerts and the favs, now I just need the reviews.**


	4. A Mark

_**A Mark**_

Eventually night fell on Margaret Town, as people turned in for the day. Among those people were Wendy and Chelia who left the guild back to their home.

Unlike Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale didn't have dormitories where the members could say. To that end, Wendy, Carla, Gray and Juvia all had to find places to stay when they joined. While Gray and Juvia found a place of their own on the outskirts of town, Wendy and Carla had moved in with their new teammate in a small place not far from the guild. As the Sky Sisters were getting ready for bed, Wendy was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"You okay, Wendy?" Chelia asked, as she emerged from the bathroom, letting her hair down.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Wendy said, smiling as she sat up, "Just thinking about seeing Natsu and Lucy again. It hasn't really been that long, but it still feels like it been forever."

"They don't seem that different," Chelia said, sitting across from her.

"Again, I'm Happy's otherwise unchanged," Carla said, smiling, using one of Wendy's stuffed animals as a seat, "He's fine the way he is."

"Though I will admit that to see that they had a baby in the past year," Chelia said.

"Honestly, it wasn't too surprising for me," Wendy said, smiling slightly.

"Me neither," Carla added.

"What do you mean?" Chelia asked, cocking her head.

"I didn't know that they got married or became parents, but I always knew they were together."

"You did?" Chelia asked, surprised.

"I told you that Natsu invited me and Carla to stay with him and Lucy after Fairy Tail disbanded, right?" Wendy said, "That was when I found out."

"It was pretty obvious in hindsight," Carla mentioned, "If anything, I'm surprised it took them as long as it did to tie the knot."

"Yeah, I'm real happy for them," Wendy said softly, before looking out the window in thought.

In the past year, there were more than a few times that Wendy questioned the decision she made. It wasn't something she made lightly, she needed some way of making money, and combined with the chance to work with Chelia, it made sense at the time. However, she still had her times when she wished she had taken Natsu up on his offer, especially now that she saw their baby. Wendy couldn't help but imagine herself sitting by Iggy's crib, being a big sister to him, as Natsu was a big brother to her.

"You know, I wouldn't hold it against you if you decided to go back with them," Chelia said gently.

"Oh, I couldn't," Wendy said, smiling at her, "Especially now that Sherry's left for Blue Pegasus."

"Well, I wouldn't want you staying just out of pity," Chelia added.

"Who said we were staying out of pity?" Carla said, "We've found quite a niche here in Lamia Scale."

"Yeah, we have," Wendy said, though it was ever so slightly less enthusiastic. Her hand went to her shoulder, where her guild mark was.

 **(at Gray and Juvia's house)**

Despite Lyon's insistence, Juvia had opted not to stay with him after she joined Lamia Scale. And perhaps because of Juvia's insistence (though that was a mild word for it), Gray had agreed to share a house with her.

It was a small place, on the outskirts of town, with just a bathroom aside from the main room. They were supposed to sleep in separate beds, though Juvia had a tendency to crawl into Gray's, and he sometimes wouldn't realize until he woke up in the morning. Once he woke up to find his arms wrapped around Juvia, holding her close, and though Juvia insisted that he did that on his own in his sleep, Gray wasn't entirely willing to believe it.

"Juvia is so gad Natsu and Lucy visited us," Juvia said from the stove.

"Yeah, it was good to catch up some," Gray said as he lounged on his bed.

"They must be so happy," Juvia said, smiling, "Juvia can only imagine how it feels to be a parent for now." She had taken a break asking for a child with Gray, and now he was worried she'd start it again, so he shifted the subject slightly.

"Though, I'm not sure they're so happy," Gray said, "You saw the mood Natsu was in."

"Oh yes," Juvia said, her smile fading, "He wasn't in a good one."

"That's a way of putting it," Gray said, scowling slightly, "I don't get what his problem is."

"You think he's still made about the guild disbanding?"

"No doubt."

"What do you think he's doing now?"

"I dunno," Gray said, "Not to be mean or anything, but Natsu's got a pretty narrow set of skills."

"Well, you aren't wrong," Juvia said with a slight smile. They honestly didn't have many options when the guild disbanded. They needed money, and Lyon had invited them to join Lamia Scale, so it seemed like a no brainer. Over the past year, Gray was curious as to what the others were doing, and he was quiet surprised when he saw that Lucy was modeling, and later writing for Sorcerer Weekly. In fact, the articles Lucy wrote were some of the best he read in a while. Though he was still curious as to what Natsu was doing in the past year.

"I'm a little annoyed that we didn't get invited to their wedding," Gray said.

"Yeah, Juvia is a little annoyed too," Juvia said, "I would've loved to have been a maid of honor. I bet you would've been the best man."

"Yeah, there's an image," Gray said. He put his hand to his guild mark briefly.

 **(at the Viper Inn)**

The Dragneels were staying at the Viper Inn, which was a few blocks from Lamia Scale. In their room, Lucy was rocking Iggy to sleep, singing softly to him while Happy snacked on a fish; Natsu stood at the window, staring out of it. When he finally fell asleep, Lucy gently set her son in the bed before kissing his forehead.

"Goodnight my little Dragon Prince," she cooed, "Sweet dreams." As she tucked him in, Lucy looked up at her husband, who was still at the window.

"Natsu."

"Yeah?"

"Come on," she said, "Come say goodnight to your son." Natsu took a breath, before smiling and walking up to the bed. He then fell to his knees, and put his forehead on Iggy's.

"Sleep well, buddy," he said, softly, "When you wake up, you'll be even stronger." Iggy just smiled in his sleep.

"Hey, Lucy," Natsu called, careful to not disturb his son.

"Yeah?" Lucy answered as she looked up from the book she was starting to read.

"Look, I'm sorry about today," Natsu said, rubbing the back of his head, "I shouldn't have been ruining your time like that."

"Its okay," Lucy said while taking a breath, "But would you please tell me why you were acting like that?"

"Its nothing," Natsu said, turning to walk away, but Lucy had no intention of letting that pass.

"Natsu," she said as she suddenly grabbed his hand, "I'm your wife, so please, talk to me." Natsu looked at her, but still didn't say anything as he stared at the ground.

"Is this still about Fairy Tail disbanding?" Lucy didn't even need an answer, since she knew what it was.

"You can't keep lingering on that," she said, "You have to move on."

"I have moved on!" Natsu insisted.

"Obviously not," Lucy said. She then shook her head, folding her arms, and sighed.

"Moving on doesn't mean forgetting," she said, "Gray is still that same idiot you always fought with, Juvia is still that same lovestruck goofball, Carla is still that goodhearted snob Happy pines over, and Wendy is still that sweet girl you looked after. You're still their friend, and they're still your friends. All that's changed is where we live, and where we get our income." Natsu considered her words for a time, but still remained silent for a while.

"That's not the point," he eventually said.

"What do you mean?"

"Fairy Tail is a family, right?" Natsu asked, "And families stay together, even through the tough times."

"Makarov disbanded the guild, what were we supposed to do?"

"We run it without him!" Natsu snapped, "That's what! We don't leave it!" Both suddenly looked over to their son, but he was still sound asleep. Lucy looked to debate that, but she thought about it some more, and realized that for Natsu, family sticking together was probably a huge thing. Unlike Lucy, who ran away from home and her family, Natsu lost his only family when Igneel disappeared. Fairy Tail was the only family he had ever really known, and losing both it and his father in barely a week probably did a number on him emotionally. Lucy privately chided herself for not talking about this with him more.

"Look at my hand," she eventually said, holding it up. Natsu looked at it, and winced. When Natsu and Happy joined the Royal Army, they were required to get their guild marks removed, and though they were both extremely loathed to do it, they couldn't allow any exceptions. Lucy, as a gesture of solidarity, also got hers removed, and they all had them replaced with the insignia of the Fiore Kingdom.

"So what?"

"In the end, the mark was just color on skin," she said, "You and I were originally just guild mates with the same mark, and look at us now that we don't have them. Not only did we not stop being friends, we became more than that; not only are we married, we're the parents of a beautiful little boy. Our bonds go above beyond just a mark; beyond just a guild." Natsu didn't look convinced as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Lucy…"

He couldn't finish, as explosion-like sound suddenly came in from the distance. As they ran to the window, briefly noting that even that hadn't done more than make Iggy stir slightly.

 **Note:**

 **Please review.**


	5. Orochi Fin

_**Orochi Fin**_

In what seemed like an instant, the town was in chaos. Monsters of all shapes and sizes rampaged through it, crushing everything in their way.

"The town's under attack!" Lucy said, stating the obvious, as she and Natsu ran down the road towards Lamia Scale. Natsu was really wishing at this point to have his troops at his disposal; they could've dealt with these beasts no problem. They soon reached the guild hall, where most of Lamia Scale was already gathered.

"What's going on?" Happy asked.

"Its Orochi Fin," Gray answered as he froze a dog-like creature bounding at him, "They've been rivals of Lamia Scale for years now."

"So kind of like Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, then," Natsu said.

"That's a pretty good way to put it," Carla said.

"Where's Iggy?" Wendy asked, noticing Natsu and Lucy didn't have their son with them.

"We left him back at the inn with Virgo," Lucy answered, "All my spirits adore him, so she was happy to keep an eye on him." She then looked around at the creatures surrounding them; it looked like there were thousands, fi not tens of thousands.

"I've never seen so many monsters in one place," the blonde said.

"They must have a monster tamer," Lyon said, "That's how they're controlling them."

"So we take out the tamer, we take out the monsters," Natsu said, slamming his fist into his palm.

"That seems like a sound strategy," Gray said, "You sure you're Natsu." Natsu scowled, but what surprised Gray was that there seemed to be actual hostility, instead of the childish antagonism he usually had.

"He's probably outside of town," Wendy said, "Carla and I can fly out there and find him."

"Happy and I will come with you," Natsu said, "Its my job to beat up punks like these."

"Thanks Natsu!" Wendy said, smiling.

"Come on Happy!" Natsu called.

"Aye sir!" Happy said as he swooped down to pick his partner up.

"Let's g…" Natsu couldn't finish as a sandal was suddenly in face, that turned out to be attached to Chelia.

"Sorry Natsu!" she said as Happy took off with her instead of Natsu, "But I can't ask you to deal with our problems like this."

"Chelia," Wendy said softly.

"You help protect the town," Chelia said, looking down, "We'll deal with Orochi Fin!" The Sky Sisters then flew away with the Exceeds.

"Well, that was unexpected," Lucy said, squatting down next to her husband.

"That's probably for the best," Gray said, "This is our fight, not your's." Natsu, however, was not at all intent on letting this rest.

"Nobody steals Happy from me!" he declared, leaping to his feet, "I ain't letting this go!" Not giving anyone anytime to protest, Natsu charged through the monsters, clearing huge swathes of them away.

"That's my husband for you," Lucy said with a snigger.

"Damn, and here I was hoping he would mature some," Gray griped, rubbing the back of his head. But they couldn't dwell on it, as the monsters charged them.

"Well," Lyon said, getting a smile, "No reason to wonder why their attack for now. Let's just get this over with."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Gray said, as he promptly pulled off his shirt, "Let's go Juvia!"

"Juvia is right behind you!" Juvia said as she promptly pulled off her own shirt.

"Since when did you…," Lucy decided not to finish. In hindsight, it was surprising that she hadn't started doing it earlier.

"This way, my beloved and I are even more in sync!" Juvia said, before summoning a massive torrent of water that sent several of the monsters careening away.

"Well, if it works," Lucy said, turning to look back at the battle. She then pulled out her key.

"Open, Gate of the Lion, Leo!" she said. It didn't take long for Leo to appear.

"Ah, Lucy," Leo said, "Glad to be back in the game."

"Yo, Loke!" Gray said, holding up his hand with a grin.

"Hey Gray," Leo said, returning the grin, "Good to see you again. I heard about what happened to Fairy Tail."

"I know," Gray said, nodding, "But there's nothing to be done about it now. Come on, we've got a fight to win!" That was all Leo needed to here, as he blasted a crab like monster away. And his summoning was only the beginning of Lucy's demonstration, as she suddenly slammed the key to her chest. There was a flash of light, and when she emerged, she was dressed in a black dress, with her hair in a bun, and the symbol of Leo on her breast.

"Star Dress: Leo!" she said.

"Wait!" Juvia said, looking at it, "Is that re-quip magic?"

"Not exactly," Lucy answered, as she took a battle stance. She then leapt a notably larger distance than she normally would be able do, as her foot lit up with glowing energy.

"Regulus Lucy Kick!" She said as she slammed into one of the monsters, beating it one blow, impressing everyone there.

"I swear, if she wasn't married," Leo mused to himself.

"I'd say you should see the Virgo one, but that one is Natsu's favorite, so I won't," Lucy said with a sly smile and a wink.

 **(outside of Margaret)**

The Sky Sisters were making good time towards where they assumed Orochi Fin was by following the procession of monsters.

"Dear gods," Wendy said, looking down over them, "There must be over 100,000 of them down there."

"I know they've always been our rivals," Carla said, "but this seems extreme, even for them."

"I heard they got a new guild master," Chelia said, "Maybe that's explain their sudden aggression."

"Look!" Happy said, "There they are!" He pointed with his tail to where a group of people were standing on a hill.

As they were flying in, the snake man, who was the one in control of the monsters grinned darkly as he saw them coming in.

"Well look at that," he said, "If it isn't the Sky Sisters?" The snake that was wrapped around his neck glared at the approaching girls, its tongue flicking. It then leaned in, and hissed into the man's ear.

"Relax, we can take them no problem with our master here," he said, scowling at the snake. The snake hissed again, and then looked back the approaching mages.

"Ready, Chelia?" Wendy asked, smiling at her friend.

"I'm with you!" Chelia said, returning the smile. Taking the signal, the Exceeds both dropped their charges, who descended on their enemies. Infusing their legs with their magic power, the Sky Sisters struck down several of the enemies at once. As they landed, both inhaled.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

"Sky God's Howl!" The combined breath attacks blew several of the enemies away almost at once.

During this, Carla and Happy both landed as well. Carla then took the initiative, as she leapt into the air.

"White Moon!" she said, kicking down in a mook in a way that formed a white crescent resembling a moon.

"Alright!" Happy said, pumping his paws, "Time to show the results of my training!"

"Just go hide!" Carla shouted. She then turned her attention to keep fighting, as several enemies charged her. However, as she got ready to keep fighting, a glow came from behind her, before a blue form flashed bast her, knocking each of the enemies away.

Standing in front of her as a tall, muscular Exceed. At first, Carla thought it as Pantherlily, but then she noticed the blue fur, and the red and black clothes. She then quickly realized who it really was.

"HAPPY?!" she all but shouted.

"What?" Happy said, looking at her and smiling, "I told you I got stronger." Carla was almost aghast upon seeing Happy as he was; she'd never even dreamed of him being like this.

"Its… its….," she said. She honestly had no idea what to think, and while she was glad to know that Happy had become better, it was still all around… wrong. It was like he was a completely different Exceed; was this how Happy felt when he first saw her as a human? However, she couldn't dwell on her thoughts more, as the battle reminded them of its presence.

"Come on, let's go kick some butt!" Happy said, as he jumped back into the battle. For a few moments, Carla kept staring in disbelief, until finally joining the battle.

"They aren't doing that bad," one of the Orochi Fin mages said nervously.

"Relax," the tamer said, "We haven't lost the fight yet." The snake hissed at him.

"Will you just shut up?!" the tamer snapped, "You've told me that a hundred times now!"

"That girl…," a new voice said. The tamer turned to see a tall man standing right behind him.

"Master!" he said in shock.

"I've seen her before," the guild master said, narrowing his eyes, and cracking his neck, "I wonder if she can fly now."

During all that, the Sky Sisters were steadying advance through Orochi Fin's ranks, looking for the monster tamer. They knew they could pick him out by the magical aura he gave out. During this, though, Wendy caught wife of a vaguely familiar scent.

"This smell…," she whispered to herself.

"Look!" Chelia said, breaking Wendy from her thoughts, as she pointed, "There he is!" Following her finger, Wendy saw that it was indeed that man who had the aura that picked him out as the monster tamer.

"Let's get him!" Happy said, as he knocked away another several dark mages. However, they didn't get far before an unseen force suddenly caused them all to stop.

"What's going on?" Carla said as she stood shaking for a moment, "I can't move!"

"Its like my feet suddenly way a ton," Chelia said. Wendy paused to think about the magic, and then remembered the scent. Standing before them was a tall man with a long braid that hung to his waist, and a hard gaze.

"It can't be!" she said, as she looked up.

"Let's see if you can fly…" He then held up his arms. In a massive shockwave, the ground depressed into the ground like a crater, as if a massive weight dropped on it, dropping all four of the group to the ground.

"Its that guy from Grimoire Heart!" Happy said.

"Bluenote Stinger!" Carla said.

"I remember you girl," Bluenote said, narrowing his eyes at Wendy, "You're from Fairy Tail!" The Dragon Slayer just scowled at him.

"Though I suppose 'were' would be apt," Bluenote sneered, "Especially seeing Fairy Tail's been throw away like the garbage it is."

"You….," Wendy forced out, only to be pushed down further.

"What are you doing here!" Carla demanded.

"Just like you, I found another guild," Bluenote answered calmly, "It really wasn't hard taking over this trash guild, considering how most of their members are."

"Hey!" the tamer said, only to be ignored.

"I see you still can't fly," Bluenote said, as he held up his hand, "Suppose I might as well just end this now then, I do have better things to do now." He then glared at Chelia.

"I find you slightly more annoying," he said, "So I'll deal with you first."

"Chelia!" Wendy cried.

"Now fall to the ground," Bluenote declared, as he pointed down. Just as Chelia was starting to feel the magic build around, she felt something lift her _up_.

"Finally, I've got you!" Natsu declared as he picked her up by the collar.

"Natsu!" Happy and Wendy said together.

"He's standing even under the Master's power!" one of the thugs said. Bluenote just narrowed his eyes.

"You can't go stealing another person's friend!" Natsu said.

"I'm very sorry," Chelia apologized.

"This really isn't the time for that!" Carla scolded.

"That's the guy who attacked us on Tenrou!" Wendy said.

"Bluenote Stinger," Happy said. Natsu glanced up at the dark mage, who looked him in the eye. Natsu looked him up and down.

"Not ringing a bell," he said.

"Seriously?" Happy asked.

"That kid," Bluenote muttered to himself. He remembered him from the island, and how the kid had been no match for him.

"I take it back," he said, "He's the most annoying." He then stomped his foot on the ground once A massive shockwave resonated over the area, bringing down everyone in the area, save for Natsu somehow. However, as he was on the ground, the snake quickly slithered away, somehow not affected by the magic. Natsu doubled over slightly, but didn't do much beyond that.

"So you're the one threatening this town and its people?" Natsu asked, narrowing his eyes, "Alright then, I'll just deal with you first."

"I'll crush you!" Bluenote declared, as he focused all his power pushing Natsu down, but Natsu instead leapt into the air in-spite of the enhanced gravity.

"For Fiore!" Natsu declared. He then opened his mouth.

"Wh…" Bluenote couldn't finish, as he vanished in a massive cloud of fire, that completely enveloped him. The air suddenly turned so hot, the girls could feel the hair on their arms being singed. When the fire cleared, a massive gash in the ground was present, where the charred form of Bluenote "stood". Though it didn't take long for him to keel over, utterly defeated.

"All that power," Wendy murmured in awe.

"Just one hit!" Carla said with less awe and more terror.

"That's Natsu for you," Happy said, smiling. With that done, Natsu turned his attention back to Chelia.

"Alright, so as I was saying…"

"My clothes are on fire!" Chelia cried.

"What about the rest of Orochi Fin?" Wendy asked. They all looked up to see the guild members waving white flags.

"We surrender," the tamer said meekly.

"Well, that was easy," Happy noted.

As the Orochi Fin mages dropped their weapons and surrendered, the snake from earlier just watched from a distance, before slithering away.

 **Note: I've said it before, and I'll say it again; Happy needs more love. Most stories I've seen that depict this scene will still give Carla the power up, but leave Happy untouched. He really needs more love, and I'd dare any writer to give him that kind of power up.**

 **Be sure to review.**

 **That's not the last we've seen of that snake.**


	6. A New Job

_**A New Job**_

"Well, that was one way for you guys to spend your first Thanksgiving as part of Lamia Scale," Chelia said.

"Sorry, I guess trouble follows us wherever we go," Juvia said with an embarrassed smile. The guild was doing their best to help the townspeople rebuild after Orochi Fin's attack.

"Hey guys!" Lucy called, as she and Natsu came over with Iggy back in his carrier. As the group was approaching, Carla glanced at Happy again, still somewhat disquieted by what she saw him do last night. It wasn't really a feeling she could clearly explain; it was like a combination of confusion and incomprehension. It just felt _wrong_.

"Is Iggy alright?" Wendy asked, looking at the baby who was sucking on his pacifier while looking around at all the people milling around.

"Oh he's fine, it takes a lot to get him to fall asleep, but once he's out, I don't think an earthquake would wake him up," Lucy said, rubbing her son's head, "So what happened to the rest of Orochi Fin?"

"Don't worry, we've made some calls," Yuka said, "Those thugs will be in jail before long."

"Good to know," Lucy said with a nod, before frowning slightly, "So you're having the Council deal with it?" She glanced at Natsu, who was scowling slightly.

"Well yeah, of course, why?"

"Well, I was just thinking shouldn't the Royal Army arrest them?" Lucy said, "These were the kingdom's people they were attacking."

"Well, you'd have to take that up with them," Lyon said.

"I would if I could," Natsu said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gray asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We'll tell you later," Lucy interjected before Natsu could say anything.

"You know, for what its worth, the offer still stands," Lyon said, "We would readily welcome you into the guild."

"No way!" Natsu quickly said, his snappiness catching some people off guard.

"Geez, don't think about it much," Lyon said, frowning. Lucy looked at Natsu, and noticed he was still looking away. She just sighed melancholily.

Everyone's attention was suddenly drawn by the sound of marching, as several Royal soldiers suddenly approached them.

"What is it?" Oba Babasama asked as she approached the battalion.

"Ma'am, we are looking for Natsu Dragneel," the lead soldier said. Everyone's eyes were suddenly on Natsu.

"Damn Natsu!" Gray said, "Is it too much to ask for you to mellow out any?" Natsu ignored Gray as he walked over to the soldiers.

"What is it?" he asked, folding his arms. To everyone's shock, all the soldiers suddenly stood at attention.

"Commander Dragneel, Sergeant Trann reports!" the lead soldier said as he saluted. There was a period of silence as the mages all stared at Natsu.

"EHHH!" everyone said at once.

"Natsu joined the army?" Wendy asked in shock, unable to believe it.

"Well, when you have rent to pay, and a baby to take care of," Lucy said, rubbing Iggy's head, "you've got to start expanding your horizons."

"Why the hell are you here?" Natsu asked, frowning, "I'm supposed to be on leave right now."

"I'm sorry Sir," the sergeant said, "But we received orders from command. Our regiment has been ordered to the northern hills to deal with a bandit insurrection.

"I'll stay here in the mean time," Lucy said, "Promise me you won't be gone long." Natsu touched her cheek

"Don't worry, I'll be home soon," he said, before kissing his wife. He then picked his son out of his carrier, and hugged him.

"Hey buddy, be sure to take care of your mom while I'm gone," he said as Iggy snuggled into his chest. He whimpered some when Lucy took him back, reaching for his father.

"By Carla!" Happy said as he and Natsu ran off, "It was nice seeing you again."

"Yes," Carla said as she watched him fly away, before muttering, "I guess."

"Bye Natsu!" Wendy called, only to get a brief wave from behind in return.

"Wait for us, Commander!" the soldiers called as they all ran after their commanding officer.

"So," Lucy said, turning back to the guild, "What do you guys do to pass the time here?"

 **(on the road, some time later)**

Natsu found out that the entire 7th Regiment (which consisted of a sizable 4,000 people) was waiting not far outside of Margaret Town, and promptly started marching them in the direction he was told to. Apparently the insurrection was a sizable bandit force that were gathered in a canyon in the mountains; Natsu had no idea why, but figured it wasn't really his problem at this point.

As the soldiers marched, ironically enough, the regiment commander himself wasn't marching; instead, Natsu was just strolling beside it his hands behind his head. Happy was in his battle form walking slightly behind to Natsu. It was initially rather awkward for Natsu, now being shorter than Happy, but he eventually got used to it.

"Geez, how long have we been marching?" Natsu asked with a yawn.

"Its only been a couple hours," Happy answered.

"This is so boring," Natsu grumbled, "I wish…" He stopped himself, he was about to say that he would rather be back in Margaret Town with the others.

"I wish I was back with Lucy and Iggy," Natsu said, "I swear, if he starts walking or anything like that…."

"Isn't he still too little?" Happy asked.

"I know, I just miss him," Natsu said, pouting. Happy laughed slightly, and Natsu couldn't blame him, since he was admittedly like this whenever he was on a mission.

"So, what're we going to do after we're done here?" Happy asked.

"We'll just head back to town, pick up Lucy, and head back home to Crocus," Natsu answered, "My leave'll probably be up by then anyway."

"Do you think we'll see Carla and the others again?" Natsu was silent for a moment, before looking away.

"Maybe," he said. He did still feel kind of bad for getting in the way of Lucy's good time, but Natsu couldn't help how awkward he felt during the festival. Natsu couldn't explain how or why he felt the way he did, but he couldn't help it.

"Commander!" one soldier, who broke from the formation, said, "We will soon be nearing our location."

"Finally," Natsu said, "Let's go Happy!" Knowing what to do, Happy picked Natsu up, and flew up, and once they were high enough, Natsu inhaled deeply.

"HALT!" he then shouted. In an instant, all the soldiers came to a halt.

"Make camp!" Natsu then ordered, which the soldiers promptly started doing.

"Commander!" one of the soldiers said after Natsu landed, "Our scouts have noticed that the battalion of Rune Knights have set up their own camp not far from here." Upon hearing that, Natsu noticed several of his men grumbling amongst themselves.

"Great," Natsu said, "Just when I was starting to think this would be easy."

"What should we do, Commander?"

"Let's just pretend we didn't see them," Natsu said, "But let's do this quickly, we can't let them handle this."

 **(not far away)**

The Magic Council Custody Enforcement Division had brought considerably fewer forces than the Royal Army did, only a couple hundred. This was mostly because, unlike the Royal Army, the Rune Knights had magical tools that could prove very effective against the bandits. Though they would otherwise leave this to local law enforcement, word was that there were a number of mages in their ranks. To that end, it was decided that, for safe measure, the Magic Council would deal with it. Admittedly, they didn't ask the Fiore authorities for permission, but they never really needed to do it before.

"I'm itching for a fight," the Captain of the Custody Division, Gajeel Redfox, said as he sat on a log, "I'm going to arrest every last one of them."

"Just save your energy for the actual fight," his second, Officer Pantherlily, said, as he sat beside him.

"I'm back!" Gajeel turned to see his partner and assistant, Officer Levy McGarden coming up, back from her scouting mission.

"What'd ya find?" Gajeel asked, looking at her.

"They're still gathered down there," Levy answered, "They seem to be waiting for something. Don't know what for."

"It doesn't matter," Gajeel said sternly, "They're less than a day away from Margaret Town. After that attack by Orochi Fin, Lamia Scale can't defend themselves from them alone."

"I know," Levy said, before smiling slightly, "You know, I was thinking, how 'bout stopping by and checking in on them when we're done. I'd love to see Gray, Juvia, and Wendy again."

"We've got work to do," Gajeel said, frowning, "We don't have time for that." Levy opened her mouth, but realized Gajeel was right. Their work had to take priority right now.

After Warrod invited Gajeel to join (he strangely seemed rather unhappy when Gajeel accepted), he had invited Levy and Pantherlily to come with him. It was a rather weird turn of events all things considered; considering how many times the Council tried to disband Fairy Tail, it would've almost felt like a betrayal. Of course, this was a completely new Council, and Levy couldn't fault them with what the previous Council did, and at any rate, this Council seemed much less pretentious than the old one.

"Captain!" one of the Rune Knights said running up, "We've just spotted a regiment of Fiore Royal soldiers."

"Really?" Levy asked, surprised, "What're they doing here?"

"They probably think they're going to stop the bandits," Gajeel said, "And if that's true, then they're idiots."

"You'd think they'd let the better armed and trained deal with it," Pantherlily said.

"Well, for what its worth," Levy said, "We could work with them." Though she didn't think that was going to happen. If there was one thing that she learned since joining the Council, it was that the Council forces were not especially fond of any national army. And while she didn't want to be mean or anything, Levy could kind of understand why; the Royal Army lacked the training and tools to properly deal with magic threats, and yet thought they could always just do it themselves. They were so reckless and arrogant about that.

"Why don't you send a message down to their commander?" Gajeel said, "Do you know what he looks like?"

"He had spiky pink hair, was wearing a scarf, and is being accompanied by what looked like a blue cat." For a time, the three all stared at their subordinate, contemplating the information they just got.

"Wait, Salamander's down there?!" Gajeel all but demanded.

"Umm…. I don't understand, Sir," the man said, rather confused.

"So, Natsu joined the Royal Army," Levy said, rather flummoxed by the information, "Never saw that coming."

"Well, now I'm really worried, if Salamander's in charge," Gajeel said, frowning.

"What makes you say that?" Levy asked.

"Would _you_ want a guy like that commanding a battalion of men?" Gajeel asked. Levy planned to protest, but found that her captain made a much better point than she would've preferred.

 **(a few hours later)**

After the army finished making camp, Natsu had them wait for a while longer. While he would've loved to just pound the bandits into the ground, he knew that would be putting his men in danger. He knew that their safety was all his responsibility, and he wasn't going to let anyone get hurt because of him.

"Sir, if I may speak honestly?" He fortunately took Natsu's shrug as a "yes".

"The men are getting anxious," the soldier explained, "They are wondering when we'll act exactly."

"We can't do it yet," Natsu answered, "We aren't going until we got more information."

"Sir, is this about…." Fortunately, the soldier stopped himself, which was a good thing, since Natsu would've been fully in his right to pound him into the ground for that. Natsu just clenched his teeth and inhaled sharply.

"Happy and I will scout things out," Natsu said eventually, "We'll be back soon with more information." Happy then picked Natsu up, and flew into the hills.

"Natsu, for what its worth, you can't keep beating yourself up for what happened back then," Happy said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Natsu said quickly, glaring up, making it clear this was the end of the conversation. Happy just sighed, as he looked up towards where they were going.

Eventually they got into the mountains, and stopped on the edge of the canyon, lying on their bellies. They peaked into it, getting a good look at the large bandit camp. To their surprise, there were far more than they may have expected down there.

"Geez," Happy said, "How many are there?"

"Dunno," Natsu answered, "But we got to act quickly. Margaret Town isn't far from here."

"Why are they even here in the first place?"

"No idea, and I don't care," Natsu said, leaping to his feet, "Come on, let's…"

"Hey! What are you guys doing here!" Natsu and Happy turned around, to see a couple dozen of the thugs.

"I don't know who you are, and I really don't give a damn," Natsu said, cracking his knuckles, "But these are the kingdom's people you're threatening, now get out of here, before I kick you out."

"The Prince told us not to cause too much of a scene," one of the thugs said.

"We aren't causing a scene," his friend said, "We're just getting rid of a little problem, the Prince won't mind."

"Who the hell's this Prince guy?" Natsu demanded.

"Like we'll tell you," another thug said, "Now let's…" In timing that could almost be called comical, all the thugs were suddenly blasted away, and Natsu hadn't even done a thing. He just stared in surprise at what just happened.

"Wow, Natsu, that was awesome!" Happy said, "How'd you…"

"That wasn't me," Natsu interrupted. That was when a new figure appeared, cutting down several more of the thugs. Once they landed, they turned, and Natsu got a good look at their face.

"Natsu?"

"Erza?"

 **Note: Now that the little Lamia Scale tidbit is done, I'm going to advance the arc I invented. I won't describe it now. I wanted to do that mini arc mostly because I thought it was an effective way to depict the problems Natsu is going through, and where the characters stand. While I won't go into detail about what that Royal soldier was talking about with Natsu, it will be revealed later.**

 **Some might say that 4,000 is too many for a regiment. I considered a lower number, but I want the Fiore army to be of decent size, since its going to come back later. For what its worth, I'm doing my best to make the Fiore army seem like a real army (though I don't think Natsu can ever really carry full military discipline), but I'm going to have to take liberties. No one should feel the need to correct me on anything; at any rate, I'm in the service myself.**

 **Please review. Anyone want to guess where Erza ended up?**

 **Let me quickly cover a few things before signing off…**

 **Think of Natsu's mind set like this while reading (I think this is implicit in the story by now, so I don't have a problem saying it): imagine being in a band with your closest friends, which means a lot to you. Then, through circumstances out of your control, the band has to break up, and while you really want to keep the band going, your best friends leave and join another band. You'll have a decent idea as to Natsu's current state of mind.**

 **I'll take this as an opportunity, since Gajeel and Levy appeared in this chapter, that another issue I took was the fact that they joined the Council. I hate the Magic Council as an institution, mostly because they spent most of the series showing up** _ **after**_ **the conflict was over (even Gajeel showed up late during the "Avatar" arc), and the battle's already over, and the Council also took every opportunity it could to try and disband Fairy Tail. While I know that by this point the Council has been reformed and is now filled with actual decent, reasonable people, I honestly felt like it was a bit of a double cross for them to join. I could see them joining another guild (Sabertooth comes to mind), but the Council? I don't know, it seems wrong to me.**


	7. Horus

_**Horus**_

When Erza took this job, she just figured it'd be get in, get out, and she'd go home until the next job. What she had _not_ been expecting was to run into Natsu again after a full year with a blue cat man standing behind him.

"Natsu!" she said, smiling as she approached him, "Its been too long! How are you?" She spread her arms, expecting a hug, though Natsu just looked over with an expression Erza couldn't fully figure out. Last time she saw Natsu was the day the guild disbanded; she was moving out of Fairy Hills, and saw Natsu

"Okay, I guess," he said eventually, as his eyes wandered. Following them, Erza realized he was looking at her guild mark.

"You joined Mermaid Heel," Natsu said. After Fairy Tail disbanded, Erza had been viciously wooed by several different guilds, but ultimately settled in Mermaid Heel. While there, she had formed a team with Kagura that became known as the Dual Swords of Mermaid Heel. She considered joining Crime Sorcerie, but decided against it, since she still needed to earn a living, and thought that Kagura could use a little more company.

"Well, it seemed like a natural choice," Erza said with a nod, as she looked at Natsu's shoulder; she had been expecting to still see the Fairy Tail mark, but instead, to her surprise, she saw the Royal sigil.

"Why do you…," she stopped herself as she remembered noticing the Royal Army regiment that she saw camped not far out.

"Wait a minute did you…"

"Yeah, so?" Natsu asked, frowning. Erza's jaw then hit the floor; while she certainly wouldn't have expected Natsu to join another guild, joining the army wasn't something she expected either. If anything, the first occupation that popped into her head was mercenary.

"Hi Erza!" the cat man said, waving. At first, Erza was going to ask who that was, then she had the voice and the blue fur, and she put two and two together.

"Happy, is that you?" she asked.

"Aye!" Despite herself, once again, Erza's jaw plummeted. Having known Happy since he hatched, seeing the otherwise sweet little cat like this was almost impossible for her mind to process.

"What are you doing here?" Happy asked, breaking her from thoughts.

"I'm on a guild job," Erza answered after shaking her head slightly, "What about you?"

"A mission," Natsu answered, "Me and the regiment are s'posed to deal with the bandits down there."

"Well, I'd be more than happy to help you out with this," Erza said smiling, "Is Lucy with you?"

"No, she's in Margaret Town," Happy answered, "She's with Lamia Scale and Iggy."

"Who's Iggy?" Erza asked, arching an eyebrow. Happy looked at Natsu, apparently expecting him to answer, but he didn't say anything.

"Something to tell me, Natsu?" Erza asked, leaning forward some.

"Iggy's my son," Natsu finally said. It took Erza a full several seconds to register that; Natsu was a father, and Lucy as apparently a mother. The first emotion she felt, naturally, was anger.

"You mean to tell me that you and Lucy had a son, and you never told me?" she said darkly, "You know that I can't ever forgive that." Normally, Natsu would be cowering right now, but instead he just glared at her, clearly unamused. That surprised Erza some; perhaps he matured some over the year.

"Natsu…," she began.

"Erza!" Erza looked over her shoulder, and saw her partner emerging from behind the rocks.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you."

"Oh, Kagura," Erza said, "Look who I ran into."

"Natsu Dragneel?" Kagura asked, surprised to see her sister's old guild mate.

"What's up?" Natsu said halfheartedly.

"Didn't expect to see you here," Kagura said, nodding slightly to him, "I hope you're well."

"Well, he had a son and didn't tell me," Erza said, "So he's probably going to be _un_ well fairly soon." Once again, Natsu looked unamused. And it turned out they couldn't talk more as they all heard a series of angry calls, and looked over to see dozens more goons coming at them.

"I suppose one of them got away," Erza noted, "He must've alerted the others."

"We don't have time to talk," Natsu said, "Come on, Happy! Time to kick some ass!" He then charged into battle, his fists ignited, as Happy followed close behind him.

"Let's get started too, Erza!" Kagura said as she put her hand on Archenemy.

"We'll have a more serious talk about you denying me babysitting rights when we're done," Erza called to Natsu, as she re-quipped into her Flight Armor.

"Whatever," was all Natsu answered with.

 **(at Margaret Town)**

"So, how do you like being a journalist?" Juvia asked. Lucy looked up from watching Iggy play with the little ice lizards Lyon had made. She had been hanging out in the Lamia Scale guildhall sine Natsu left, not doing much save talking around at the table.

"Well, its okay, I suppose," she answered, "It gives me a chance to practice my writing. Though between work, and taking care of Iggy, I haven't much time to really work on my novel."

"That sucks," Gray said, "I was looking forward to reading it."

"How'd Natsu adjust to being in the army?" Wendy asked, "I imagine that it was hard for him."

"Believe it or not," Lucy said, "he took to it pretty well. I think he got plenty of motivation to work when Iggy was born. On top of that, if ever I need to get into an otherwise off limits zone, I can just drop Natsu's name a couple times." She leaned on her hand, as she returned to her attention to her son. He laughed as the lizards scurried around him, chasing after them. Carla stood on the table next to him, and in the moments where Iggy would lose his interest in the lizards, he'd turn his attention to Carla, and would try to grab at her tail, and Lucy smiled at that.

"He's adorable isn't he?" she asked.

"He really is," Wendy said, leaning forward, smiling warmly.

"He's certainly a lot more pleasant to be around than his dad," Gray said.

"Hmm?" Lucy said, looking up.

"I've seen him have bad attitude before," Gray explained, "But this was something new."

"I know, he's been under a lot of stress lately," Lucy said, looking back down.

"That's an understatement," Carla said, as she sidestepped Iggy trying to grab her, "He was acting more like a child than the actual child."

"Juvia agrees," Juvia piped up, "We were trying to be nice and he acted really rudely."

"Are we sure he's alright?" Chelia asked.

"Things are fine at home, if that's what you're wondering," Lucy said, narrowing her eyes slightly, no liking their implication.

"What can you tell us about what's been going on?" Lyon said.

"He took the disbandment hard, that's all," she said.

"We all did, and that's still no excuse for his behavior," Carla said, and unfortunately, in her moment of distraction, she suddenly found herself in Iggy's grasp, as he squeezed her like she was one of his stuffed animals.

"Lucy!" Carla wheezed out, "Can… you please…"

"Sorry Carla," Lucy said, with a slight smile, "but I hate making him cry."

"Well, what can be done about it?" Lyon said with a shrug, "You guys know him better than I do."

"I don't there's anything to be done about it," Gray answered, "This is Natsu's we're talking about."

"Hey," Lucy said, "That's a little harsh."

"For better or worse, Natsu's always been hardheaded," Carla said. She had finally slipped out of Iggy's grasp by turning into her human form. The baby then began tearing up slightly, and Lucy got ready to pick him up, but Carla sighed, and gave Iggy her tail, which he promptly started playing with, which made Lucy smile slightly, despite how progressively more irked she was getting.

"To that end," Carla continued, "I don't know if there's anything we can do to make him change his attitude."

"Well, he is what he is, right?" Wendy said.

"That's no excuse for how much of an ass he's been," Gray said plainly, "He's always been an idiot, can't have expected it to change."

"Stop it!" Everyone suddenly looked at Lucy, who was standing, and glaring at them, causing even Iggy to look up in surprise at his mother's sudden outburst. While she still didn't approve of Natsu's behavior, she wasn't going to sit and let them bad mouth her husband like this.

"You all talk like he hasn't changed at all in the past year, but you have no idea how hard he, and Happy for that matter, have both worked to support me and Iggy," Lucy said angrily, "I'll have you know that Natsu is not only a great soldier, but an amazing father at that. Maybe the problem's with you instead just him!" That earned him some rather struck looks from her friends.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Gray asked, standing up himself.

"You all just walked away from us when Fairy Tail disbanded," Lucy said, "Here I thought family didn't leave each other."

"If you guys wanted to meet with us, you could've just come," Juvia said, glaring at her.

"Oh yeah, like we're the only ones guilty here," Lucy said, "I don't remember you guy coming to Crocus to see us. Did you not want to meet with us or something? Maybe Natsu was right, we all have moved on." She let those words simmer in the air for a time, before she took a breath.

"Come on Iggy," Lucy said as she picked up Iggy, who didn't look happy to have his fun interrupted, and put him in the baby carrier.

"Wait!" Wendy said, "Where are you going?"

"Back to Crocus," Lucy said as she slung her purse over her shoulder, "When Natsu gets back, let him know I already went home." Not bothering to say anything more, the blonde turned with a huff. The Lamia Scale members just watched as she all but stormed out of the guild.

"Tch, good riddance," Gray said, earning shocked looks from several of his guild mates.

"How could you say that?" Lyon demanded, "She's your friend, isn't she?"

"She's right, we have moved on," Gray said, "Nothing to be done about it." He and Juvia then stood up and walked away.

"Wendy…," Lyon started, only to notice that she and Carla had already gone.

 **(at the Viper Inn)**

Lucy had gathered all her stuff, and was starting the trek back to the station. During this, Iggy was fussing.

"Sorry sweetie, but I starting to think your dad was right," she said, as she took a breath. While the festival had been nice and all, but she had her fill of her "friends". Lucy made a brief note to get into contact with Hisui more.

"Lucy wait!" Lucy looked over her shoulder to see Wendy running after her, with Carla floating over her.

"What is it?" she asked, trying not to sound to snippy. While she still wasn't entirely happy with Wendy either, she didn't blame her as much.

"Please, I don't want to leave you on such a bad note," Wendy said, "Please, let us come with you; we can see Crocus again, and you can show us around some, maybe?"

"Are you okay with this?" Lucy asked Carla.

"I'll admit that I may have been somewhat harsh," Carla admitted, "I apologize for what I said."

"Hold up!" Chelia called as she ran up to them as well, "I'll come with you guys too."

"You really don't need to," Wendy responded.

"We're the Sky Sisters," Chelia said, "What'll people say if we separate now?"

"You don't mind, do you Lucy?" Wendy asked. Lucy was silent for a time, before looking down at her son, who was looking happily at the Sky Dragon Slayer.

"Well, if Iggy doesn't seem to mind," Lucy said, "So I guess its fine with me."

"Thank you so much!"

 **(back in the hills)**

In what hadn't actually taken that long, Natsu, Happy, Erza, and Kagura had beaten most of the thugs that were assembled in the canyon. The rest of them, terrified by the prospect of fighting these monsters, were understandably retreating.

"Well, we didn't end up needing the men after all," Happy noted as he beat down another one.

"Of course not," Natsu answered, "These guys are wimps."

"I still can barely get over the idea of you being in the army," Erza said, as she took a breath, done with beating up the men in front of her.

"Yeah, its still kinda weird, isn't it?" Happy said.

"Though not as weird as seeing you like this," Erza said, looking over Happy again, "Seeing you as anything other than that little cat is…" She shook her head slightly to clear it.

"Most of the bandits are either beaten or running away," Kagura said as she approached her teammate.

"Good," Erza said, as she re-quipped into her usual armor, "Means Margaret Town is safe for now." It was slightly different though, with a stylized mermaid on its chest.

"This isn't over you bastards!" one of the thugs said as he ran away with a few others, "Our prince…" He couldn't finish, as he was decked in the head with an iron club. The others looked over to see some familiar, and in Natsu and Happy's case unwelcome forms coming down the hill.

"Alright boys!" Gajeel said, with Pantherlily by his side, "Round 'em all up!" The Magic Council forces quickly descended on the retreating bandits, and started using their magic items to apprehend them. As they were doing so, Gajeel noticed the other mages down there.

"Well stick me over a fire and call me a tea kettle," he said, "Look who the hell it is?"

 **(if you get that Gajeel joke, congratulations, if you don't, sorry, I'm not in the mood to explain it)**

"How's it going?" Erza said, waving slightly.

"Haven't seen you guys in a while," Gajeel said, "How the hell's it going?"

"Typical of the Council," Natsu said, glaring, "Always showing up _after_ everyone else has done the work."

"Great to see you too Salamander," Gajeel sneered.

"Guys!" Levy said as she showed up, waving.

"Levy!" Erza said as she received a hug, "Surprised to see you in the Council."

"Well, got an earning living somehow," Levy said,

"Hey, where's Happy?" Pantherlily asked, "I haven't seen him yet." Natsu just glanced at Happy, who was standing next to him.

"Hey, Lily!" Happy said, waving. It took what felt like a good couple minutes for Gajeel, Levy, and Lily to process what was just said. To their credit, they didn't openly balk the way the others would, but their blank stares and slacked jaws conveyed the same message.

"Well, a lot happens in a single year itself," was all Lily could say.

"Yeah, but clearly Salamander hasn't changed at all," Gajeel said, glancing at Natsu. He had meant that in jest, but the way Natsu glared at him, demonstrated it clearly wasn't taken like that.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, "At least I didn't join the same group that kept on trying to backstab us." That irked not just Gajeel, but Levy and Lily as well.

"You trying to start a fight, Salamander?" Gajeel asked with a scowl.

"You think you can take me, Council dog?"

"Just go ahead and try you hero wannabe." Natsu's hands lit on fire as Gajeel's turned into swords. Happy took note that he hadn't seen them act so hostile to each other since the conflict with Phantom Lord.

"Simmer down you two," Erza said as she put herself in between them. Natsu opened his mouth, before looking around.

"What's wrong now?" Erza asked.

"I smell something," Natsu said, "It isn't normal."

"What're you talking 'bout?" Gajeel demanded, "I don't smell anything." Natsu ignored him, as he looked around, before pointing up. The others followed his gaze to see what looked like a golden falcon diving towards them.

"Its a falcon," Levy said, "What's so special about it?"

"Get down!" Natsu shouted as he dove to the ground. Fortunately, they all still trusted him enough to do as he said, and they dove, just as a series of what looked like glowing feathers came from the falcon, which exploded once they hit the ground. Luckily they didn't cause much demand as most of them were on the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Kagura said, as she looked up as the falcon flew back. Then, two their more than slight surprise, the falcon then turned into a young man.

"You idiots!" he shouted, "You just wrecked my army!" He was tall and thin, with short, dark hair, pale skin, and amethystine eyes. He was wearing a white gold shirt under a black leather armor vest, and black leather armor leggings. Around his neck was a blue and gold necklace that had what looked like a stylized eye on it.

"'Your army'?" Levy asked, "What does that mean?"

"What the hell do you think it means?" the man hissed, "These men you beat up weren't bandits, they were mercenaries."

"What do you even need an army for?" Erza demanded, tightening her grip on her sword.

"None of your damn business."

"Who are you?" Natsu demanded.

"My name is Horus," the man said, putting a fist to his chest.

"Never heard of you," Natsu said.

"I wouldn't," Horus answered, "No one on this continent would know me."

"This continent?" Erza asked, "Where are you from."

"No where you need to think about. Now listen closely, I have no quarrel with any of you," Horus said, narrowing his purple eyes, "Leave now, and I'll pretend this didn't happen, and I'll go my way."

"Yeah sure," Natsu said, "Like I'm going to let you wander around this kingdom with an army of mercenaries."

"We outnumber you, and I've got a feeling we're stronger," Gajeel said, cracking his knuckles.

"Oh I know I'm not match for any of you," Horus said, as he cracked his neck, "But I know someone who is." He then stood up straight, and spread is arms

"I invoke the name of the Netjer," he said as his eyes started glowing gold, "Aspect of Kings!" His body then seemed to glow as if it were on fire. He then grew twelve feet tall, and his skin seemed to be turn to gold. His head then turned into that of a falcon, and a broad pair of bird-like wings with golden metallic feathers came from his back. He opened his eyes, which had turned into what could looked just like purple jewels.

"What the hell?" Gajeel said, speaking the phrase that was on everyone's mind.

" **Now let's try this again,"** Horus said, as he opened his hand, and his spear flew into it. He then opened his wings, and with a single flap, was in the air. Before anyone could even react, he dove at Erza.

 **Note: Something that I wished happened, and would've made a lot of sense, was that Erza would join Mermaid Heel. Crime Sorcerie would've also made sense, of course, but I think Mermaid Heel made more.**

 **If you couldn't guess, this next arc is going to take many, many notes from Egyptian mythology. I'm really, REALLY into Ancient Egypt. I think that while people do know about it, its often looked over in favor of either Greek or Norse mythology. For what its worth "Netjer" is based on an Ancient Egyptian word that roughly translates to "god". For the record, no, the Netjer aren't actually gods.**

 **Brief notes about the design of Horus. I based his appearance on Lelouch from** _ **Code Geass**_ **, and his transformed form on the divine form of Horus from from the really bad movie** _ **Gods of Egypt**_ **, which I'll admit, is a major guilty pleasure for me. Just look those up for a good point of reference.**

 **Be sure to review.**


	8. The Aspect of Kings

_**The Aspect of Kings**_

Erza barely had enough time to raise her own weapon to block Horus' spear. The mere force of it sent her tumbling back. He then swung once of his wings sending several of those golden feathers at his opponents, who had to leap out of the way as the feathers created more explosions.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu said as he released his signature attack. However, Horus simply blocked with his wings, and emerged unscathed.

"What the…" Natsu couldn't finish, as he had to dodge another glowing feather.

"Solid Script: Wind!" Levy said, as a gust of wind blasted at Horus, who spun his pole arm, dissipating the wind. He then dove down at Levy, who summoned up a wall, only for Horus to break right through it. Fortunately, before he could hit her, Happy swooped down and whisked Levy away.

"You okay?" Happy asked.

"Yeah, thanks!" Levy said with a smile.

"You bastard!" Gajeel said, as he inhaled, "Iron Dragon's Roar!" Horus swung his wing, sending a wave of light that scattered the Dragon's Roar. He then opened his beak, and released a beam of energy at Gajeel, who had to leap out of the way. And it was a good thing too, since the massive rock he was standing in front was completely annihilated.

Kagura jumped behind Horus, ready to kick him down, though the falcon man blocked with his spear. He then flapped back, and sent another several glowing feathers at Kagura, who slashed her sword, destroying all the feathers before they could get to her.

"Erza!" she called. Horus looked behind him, as the scarlet haired knight leapt from behind him. Horus turned to face her, only for an unseen force to suddenly push him down to the ground.

" **Gravity magic?"** he mused, but was forced to bring up his spear to protect himself from Erza's attack. As he was distracted, Happy came up behind him

"Take this you jerk!" he said as he punched Horus in the back. However, he recoiled in pain, as he grabbed his hurt hand.

"What the…" Happy couldn't finish as was kicked away by Horus. Lily then came up behind him as he tried to use his Buster Arm, only for Horus to catch with his bare hands.

"How are we not injuring you?"

" **You thought piercing my armor would be that easy?"** Horus sneered, as he socked Lily in the stomach, sending him tumbling away.

"Let's find out!" Gajeel said, "Iron Dragon's Sword!" He turned his arm into his sword, and swung down, as he gave a sound strike across Horus chest. The twelve-foot tall being let out a screech of pain, as he leapt back, holding himself on the chest. However instead of blood, what looked like molten gold leaked between his fingers.

"Nice shot, Gajeel," Lily said as he looked up from his downed position.

"Perfect," Erza said, as she rubbed the back of her neck, "Proves that he's not invincible." However, Horus just chuckled slightly, as he removed his hand, looking at the gold that seemed to serve as his blood.

" **All that, just for a little blood, and I'm not even holding back,"** he said darkly **, "Seems I'm going to have to take this up a notch."** He then beat his wings lifting himself into the air, as he held up his hand.

" _ **I nis en is ren**_ **,"** he chanted in a strange language.

"What the hell's he saying?" Gajeel demanded.

"I've never even heard that language," Levy said, and it was true. She'd read about all number of languages in her time, and that was not one of them.

" _ **Mis payek asib neferyt**_ **,"** Horus finished as he began to ball of light appeared in his palm **, "** _ **saxi I qaat**_ **."** He then through the ball of light into the air, which turned into a stylized falcon with its wings spread.

" **The King's Word!"** Horus roared, as he pointed down at his few opponents. A beam of light then descended on the mages of Ishgar. Natsu summoned a shield of fire to black it while Erza re-quipped into her Adamantine Armor and Gajeel created his own shield of iron.

All of them lay seemingly defeated on the ground, as Horus floated down. As he landed, he noticed that at least Kagura and Erza were conscious.

"All that power," Kagura forced out, "What is it?"

"Get back on your feet," Erza said weakly, as she forced herself to her feet, "We have a battle to win."

" **You can't beat me, no one can,"** Horus said, as he moved forward, his spear dragging against the ground **, "not when I'm like this. You may as well be fighting a god."** As he approached, Erza managed to rise to her feet, only to get backhanded, and knocked back to the ground by Horus, who put his foot on her back.

" **Foreign scum,"** he said **, "You shouldn't interfere in affairs you know nothing of."**

"Why are you doing this?" Erza demanded, "What do you have to go gain from any of this."

"Like hell you've won!" Horus glanced over to see that Natsu had stood up

"I won't let you win!" Natsu declared, as his fists ignited.

" **Fool,"** Horus sneered, as he held up his hand, which started to glow, before firing a ball of light.

"For the Kingdom of Fiore!" Natsu declared as he used his fire to boost himself into the air. He released his Dragon's Roar, which Horus still blocked without much trouble.

" **Fool, the Golden Armor of Kings is impervious to harm,"** Horus said, though he admitted he felt some of the heat. He then waved the fire away like it was nothing. However, he then saw Natsu descending on him, with his entire arm cloaked in flames, which then built up into a massive cloud of fire behind him.

" **What the…"**

"Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist!" Natsu then brought his fully charged attack down on Horus, who raised his wings to block again. However, this time it didn't go away as simply as it did earlier, as the force of the attack drove him into the ground, and with a roar of pain, his wing gave way, and the fist drove straight into Horus gut. The falcon man couldn't so much screech as much as he could only squawk weakly.

When the smoke cleared, it showed Natsu standing, and the golden figure lying defeated in the ground. His body seemed to fade into golden fire, as Horus reverted to his normal form. Natsu started to double over, only for Happy to catch him.

"Thanks Happy," Natsu said with a smile.

"Aye Commander!" Happy said with a smile.

Soon enough, everyone else was standing, as they gathered around the opponent who just earlier had seemed invincible. Horus was still conscious, as he looked around at them, glaring.

"You going to do something, or you just going to stare at me?" he scoffed.

"We should arrest you for gathering an illegal magical army," Gajeel said.

"Like hell," Natsu said, "I should take you in for threatening the safety of the Kingdom's people."

"Hey, we were here first!" Gajeel protested.

"This is Fiore, isn't?" Natsu said.

"Think about this later," Erza said, getting in between them again, before looking down at Horus, "Alright, now tell us why you're here?"

"Show some damn respect," Horus said after a moment's silence, "You're speaking to royalty."

"I'm sure," Erza said sarcastically.

"Lose the sarcasm, commoner, you're addressing the rightful Prince and Heir of the Empire of Aaru," Horus declared. They stared at him for a time, confused by the declaration.

"'Aaaru'?" Happy asked, cocking his head curiously, "I haven't heard of it."

"I have," Levy said, "Its a country in the Southern continent. I've never heard of any of them coming to Fiore, though. And you're its prince?"

"That's what I said," Horus answered, narrowing his purple eyes.

"Then why are you here?" Kagura asked.

"Because I have no damn choice," Horus said, "You really think I'd come to this pathetic, so-called kingdom by choice?"

"Hey!" Natsu snapped, only to be ignored.

"You're in exile?" Levy said, starting to put things together, "So that's why you were gathering an army? So you could go back?"

"Give the woman a damn award," Horus sneered.

"Don't you talk to her like that!" Gajeel hissed, leaning down, "Now you best shut up and…"

"I'm taking him to the capital." Everyone looked at Natsu; this wasn't a statement, it was a declaration of fact.

"You don't have the authority to do that," Gajeel said.

"I'm a Commander in the Royal Army, and he just committed a crime against the Kingdom of Fiore," Natsu said, "Take him, Happy." Doing as he was told, Happy grabbed Horus, and threw him over his shoulder, and they both started walking away.

"I'm not going to let you do this, Dragneel," Gajeel said, stepping forward. Natsu stopped, and glared at him.

"Try and stop me," he hissed, before continuing on. Gajeel didn't try and stop him.

 **Note: I know that Horus may have seemed over powered, but I think this'll be an effective enough gauge as to what these "Netjer" can do. The one Horus has won't be the only one.**

 **What Horus said I took from a document I have that's essentially an Ancient Egyptian-English dictionary. It best translates as: "I summon the names of the old kings, bring your light down and smite my foes".**

 **Be sure to review.**

 **As I was writing this chapter, and considering ideas for a** _ **RWBY**_ **story that I plan on doing, a thought came to me. There are countless ideas for fanfics in just about every category; ideas we can't copyright for obvious reasons. Take the "Acnologia raises Natsu" premise, my "Eye of the Black Dragon" was the first story to utilize this premise. However, plenty of writers have taken this concept and utilized to their own ends, with varying degrees of success. Now, I can't copyright this concept, nor can I accuse another writer of ripping off my idea unless their story is exactly like mine.**

 **To use another example, we've got the practically legendary** _ **RWBY**_ **fanfic writer, Coeur Al'Aran. Now he (I'm pretty sure he's a he), has taken a number of concepts and ideas, a lot of which that I'd love to see other writers take a jab at, particularly the "White Sheep" concept. However, I have a suspicion that if people were to do that concept, they'd get accusations of ripping him off.**

 **So inclusion, writers need to adopt a clearer position I believe on what constitutes a "rip off". A "rip off", is when a person takes another individuals work, changes very little, and presents it as purely their own. A "rip off" does not occur when a person takes a concept and adapts it to their own end, with their own conflict, motivations, and events.**

 **Thanks for reading this spiel.**


	9. Old Photos

_**Old Photos**_

Part of reason Lucy had accepted Wendy's offer to come with her to Crocus was so that she could maybe use Troia on Iggy to help him get through the ride. However, when the train started, much to Lucy's surprise, Wendy was completely incapacitated by motion sickness.

Lucy looked to ask Chelia, only to find that she was fast asleep. It seemed that while Dragon Slayers got motion sickness, transportation put God Slayers to sleep. It made Lucy briefly ponder the possibility of something happen to Gray when he went on a train. So because of that, she had to deal with her

Fortunately, the train ride didn't seem that long. Once they got, Lucy lead the Sky Sisters downtown to her and Natsu's home.

"This place is pretty nice," Wendy said, as she looked around, "Its bigger than your last apartment."

"Well, we had to get a bigger place to raise Iggy in," Lucy said, as she set her son in a small crime that was next to the sofa, "Fortunately, Natsu's not destroying as much property as he did in the guild."

"Well, I guess the military finally installed some discipline in the man," Carla commented as she floated over Iggy's crib, who laughed as he reached up to her.

"I guess that's a way to put it," Lucy said, as she went over to the cupboard, "Would you guys like anything to eat or drink?"

"I'm fine," Wendy said.

"So am I," Chelia answered.

"Again, I'd like to apologize for how I acted earlier at the guild," Carla said, "It was out of line for me act so rudely."

"Oh, its fine," Lucy said softly, "We've all been pretty stressed out lately I think."

"Wendy told me you've been looking to be a writer," Chelia mentioned, "How has it been going?" Lucy would've been somewhat annoyed that Wendy had mentioned that to another, since it was something she generally didn't want to promote. However, she supposed that there wasn't much good in getting mad at this point.

"Well, I honestly haven't had much time to do it lately," Lucy answered, "at least between my work in Sorcerer Weekly, and being a mother."

"Oh, well that's too bad," Chelia answered, "I was looking forward to maybe reading it myself." As they were talking, Wendy had walked up to Iggy's crib, and was now looking over it. As she did, her pigtails slipped down into the crib, giving Iggy something new to grab.

"Ow!" Wendy yelped briefly as Iggy gave her hair a sound tug.

"Iggy!" Lucy scolded as she went over to the bed, frowning at her son, "That's not nice!"

"Its fine," Wendy answered with a slight, if not somewhat pained giggle, as she took a step back. She then looked into the crib, and her smile twitched slightly.

"I still can't believe how much has changed in just one year," she said, "I still can barely believe that you and Natsu are parents now."

"I'll admit, what caught me off guard the most was when I saw what happened to Happy," Carla said after a moment's pause. Lucy chuckled at that slightly.

"Imagine my surprise when I came home late and saw this hulking cat man sitting on our dinner table snacking on a fish," she said.

"You're pictures are nice," Chelia spoke up, as she stood next to the wardrobe. Lucy came over to join her. They were mostly of Natsu, Happy, and herself, such as a picture of Natsu with Happy floating next to him, his hand on Lucy's pregnant stomach. Another picture showed Lucy in a hospital bed, holding a newborn Iggy in her arms. The most recent one, which was also the most formal, showed Natsu in his formal armor (which consisted of ceremonial armor with dragons on it) and his helmet under his arm, standing beside a chair of Lucy with her hair tied back in a bun, in a flowing red dress, and Iggy in her lap, while Happy stood to the side in his battle form, in his own armor.

"Though I don't see any pictures of Fairy Tail here," Chelia then noted. Lucy visibly flinched at that, and she noticed Wendy and Carla looking at her with surprise. Looking at them, they both looked hurt.

"Lucy," Wendy said softly. There was a period of silence, which was broken when Lucy heard Iggy whining.

"Do you mind if I feed him?" Lucy asked. After getting affirmation, Lucy picked Iggy up and started nursing him. The silence then returned, as Lucy kept her attention on her baby.

"After the guild disbanded, Natsu and I made a promise to each other," she finally explained, as she ran her hand through Iggy's hair, "While others may leave and go their separate ways, we would always be together, and that would be enough. For the past year, it honestly seemed like enough; we've been happy with our own little family." Wendy opened and then closed her mouth as she looked at the floor; Chelia looked at her with concern.

"We should go check into our hotel," Carla suddenly intercepted.

"Really?" Lucy asked, "I thought you were going to sleep here?"

"We can read the room," Carla said plainly, frowning at her. She then lead the Sky Sisters out of apartment as Lucy watched them leave, sighing at how quickly things soured, sitting down.

"Well, I guess just you and me now again," she said to her son, who continued nursing, "I hope your dad's home soon."

 **Note: I originally was planning on having this chapter be longer, but I thought it would be more effective to have this scene be on its own, especially with how the story will progress. At any rate, we needed a real Lucy chapter after all the whole shebang with the last chapter.**

 **Sorry this is so short (I'm really not).**

 **Be sure to review.**


	10. An Awkward Reunion

_**An Awkward Reunion**_

Despite what happened, Lucy was still decent enough to be gracious to the girls. So after a day had passed, she decided to approach them again, and show them around some more. It was nice thing to do, and to that end, Lucy took them along as she went on various reporting jobs. This time, she brought Iggy along with her, if only because she was finding out it helped defuse the tension considerably.

However, after a rather awkward half-day, she was surprised to learn that Natsu and Happy were coming home early. All to eager to be with her husband again, she ran to the palace to greet him, with Wendy, Carla, and Chelia following her. When she got there, she quickly spotted him and Happy in his battle form.

"Natsu!"

"Lucy!" Natsu said as he saw his wife coming up. Iggy let out a happy squeak as he reached for his dad.

"Hey buddy!" Natsu said, picking Iggy up, "Thanks for taking care of your mom while I was gone." Positioning Iggy in one arm, he wrapped his other arm around Lucy.

"I though you were staying in Margaret Town," he said.

"It wasn't as nice as I thought it would be," Lucy admitted with a somewhat melancholy smile. Natsu then noticed the Sky Sisters coming up behind her.

"Hi, Natsu," Wendy said, waving her hand slightly, smiling.

"Oh, hey," Natsu responded briefly.

"Hi Carla!" Happy said, waving. The Exceed, who was still in her cat form, just averted her eyes from him, confusing Happy slightly.

"I've got to report back to the old man," Natsu said, handing Iggy back to his mother.

"Alright," Lucy said, "I was actually going to have tea with the princess later, so I'll probably see you in the palace." She waved as he and Happy headed into the palace.

"Lucy!" Looking around, the blonde noticed a very familiar red head approaching her.

"Erza?"

"Long time, no see," Erza said, opening her arms. Apparently she was expecting Lucy to hug her; but the blonde didn't, disappointing Scarlet slightly.

"Erza!" Wendy called, waving.

"Wendy!" Era answered with her own wave, before opening her arms. This time, Wendy actually returned the hug, but only after more than a moment of hesitation.

"Is this your son?" Erza asked, coming over to Lucy once she released Wendy.

"Yeah," Lucy answered, picking Iggy out of his carrier, "This is little Iggy." Before she could even react, her son got practically yanked out of her arms, and held up by Erza.

"You are quiet possibly the most adorable thing I've ever seen," she declared, "I can already tell we're going to have a lot of fun together." Despite herself, Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at seeing Erza swoon over Iggy, though Iggy looked more confused than anything else.

"Lu!"

"Levy!" This time, Lucy received a hug instead of being offered one.

"Its been so long!" Levy said, "How are you?"

"Fine, I guess," Lucy answered, looking the blue haired girl up and down briefly, "You joined the Council?"

"Yeah," Levy answered, cocking her head, "Why?"

"Just… never mind," Lucy eventually said, not wanting to make this as sour as it eventually became in Lamia Scale.

"Is this your son?" Levy asked, seeing Iggy in Erza's arms.

"Ye…" Lucy couldn't finish as for the second time in an hour, Iggy got snatched up by a woman he was just meeting.

"You are so cute!" Levy said, cuddling Iggy, "Yes you are! Yes you are! You're the cutest thing in the whole wide world." Once again, Iggy just looked completely bewildered.

 **(in the castle)**

Eventually, everyone made their way to the throne room, where Natsu had deposited Horus. This included not only the soldiers and the Council, but the guilds had made their way in as well, mostly as curiosity. When they got in, Lucy and Hisui briefly waved to each other.

"Is this the bandit leader?" the king asked, gesturing to Horus, who was kneeling on the floor, his hands bound behind his back.

"This is him," Natsu answered, "I still don't know what he was doing here?"

"Foreigners," Horus grumbled, "Don't know why I expected much more."

"Show some respect!" Natsu snapped.

"Its okay, Commander Dragneel," Toma said, holding up his hand, before looking towards Horus, "Who are you?"

"My name is Horus, son of Osiris, the rightful Pharaoh of Aaru," Horus explained, looking towards the monarch.

"Aura?" Wendy asked.

"Its a country on the Southern continent," Erza explained, "I don't much more than that, though."

"So what are you doing in Fiore?" Arcadios asked.

"I am in exile," Horus answered, "I have not been to my homeland in three years now."

"So you think that gives you an excuse to threaten this kingdom with your army of bandits?" Natsu demanded, looming over the prince.

"I would do anything to save my kingdom," Horus answered, glaring at him, "I have nothing to apologize for."

"Save your kingdom?" Horus faced tensed up, as he took a breath.

"Seven years ago, my uncle, Set, overthrew my father," he explained, "I spent five years in hiding in Aaru, before I eventually came here."

"So, why did you come to Fiore?" Toma asked.

"You were trying to build an army?" Gajeel, this time, asked

"That wasn't my initial plan, actually," Horus admitted, "I originally came here looking for my great-grandfather."

"Your great-grandfather?"

"Ra, the first Pharaoh and founder of the Kingdom Aaru; I thought if anyone could stop Set, it was him. I searched of him for the the past three years with no luck, until I gave up, and decided to build an army so I could go back to Aaru and challenge my uncle myself. I spent over a year finding mercenaries, and I almost had enough; then you guys came along."

"You could have simply come to me," Toma said plainly, "I may have been willing to assist you." Horus just clenched his teeth, and looked at the floor, before looking back up.

"If you can," he said, "Then I would readily accept your help. What happens in Aaru affects more than just the people there."

"I have to beg the question though," Arcadios said, "Why should we be concerned about the affairs of a country that's far away? What do we have to gain from helping you?"

"Set is one of the most belligerent individuals there is," Horus answered, "He savors war and conquest, and thinks its his destiny to turn our kingdom into an empire. For the sake of your country, Set cannot remain on the throne." There was a silence, as the kingdom officials considered what they had heard.

"Commander Dragneel," Toma spoke up, "You were the one who captured this prince in the first place. What is your opinion on the matter?"

"I dunno," Natsu answered with a shrug, "But I'll do whatever is best for the kingdom I guess." It was rather strange for all the former Fairy Tail members except Lucy to hear that. Erza in particular found it hard to believe that those sort of words were coming out of Natsu's mouth.

"If that is the case," Toma said, "Then we might yet have a stake in this. What would you have us do?"

"Help me find Ra. At this point, he is the only remaining chance."

"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Erza asked.

"No," Horus answered, "Before I left, my grandmother, Nut, told me he was Fiore, and that was all."

"Then how are we supposed to find him?" Natsu asked.

"That's what I'd like to know," Horus responded, "Before I left, all my grandmother gave me was this." He reached into his shirt pocket, and pulled out a disc-shaped amulet, which seemed to be meant to be the sun.

"This belonged to Ra, and Nut said I could use it to find him. But I don't know what exactly to do with it."

"So you believe Ra is your best chance to prevent all out war?"

"Without a doubt," Horus answered.

"In that case, Commander Dragneel, you have a new assignment," Toma said, "You are to aid Prince Horus in his search."

"You got it!" Natsu said, with a thumbs. Most soldiers would get in trouble for that, but Natsu definitely wasn't most soldiers.

"I would also like to issue a formal request to the guilds present," Toma said to the guild mages, "We could use as much aide in this matter as possible. Any assistance Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel can offer would be greatly appreciated."

"We would be ready and willing, your Majesty," Erza said, with Kagura nodding in agreement.

"Same here," Chelia said, raising her hand.

"Though we should call the guild and get more people to join us," Wendy said, "I don't think the three of us would be enough."

"The Council Custody Unit will join too," Gajeel said, "The Council has got a stake in this too."

"Very well," the king agreed with a nod, "With that…."

"I'm coming too!" Lucy suddenly declared, stepping forward, surprising everyone.

"Lucy, you shouldn't," Natsu said, "You got your job."

"I'm not gong to let my husband walk away for gods know how long," Lucy answered, "We're sticking together."

"What about Iggy?" Natsu said.

"Oh yeah," Lucy remembering he was right. It wasn't like they could bring their son with them on this mission.

"I can keep an eye on him," Hisui volunteered, coming down to them.

"Oh I can't ask you for that."

"Its not problem at all, I am his godmother after all." Upon hearing that, both Erza and Levy looked like they'd just been slapped in the face.

"Wait, she's Iggy's godmother?" Erza asked, pointing.

"Well, yes," Lucy answered simply, "She was the one here when he was born."

"But… I thought," Levy said slowly. Lucy couldn't help but feel annoyed by their attitudes; was being godmother to her baby boy like some kind of achievement they thought to achieve? Igneel was her son, not a prize for them to win.

"We'll leave in two days," Natsu said.

"And which way do we go?" Horus said, "Haven't you been listening to me up until this point? I have no idea where Ra is."

"Things always seem to work out," Natsu said with a shrug, "We'll just wing it." Horus just stared, not sure he had heard that al right.

 **Note: A recurring joke I see in stories where Natsu and Lucy have a child, is the girls arguing over who gets to be the godmother. I decided to try and take that idea in a more serious direction.**

 **In the actual Egyptian divine lineage (which is really complicated, and changed a lot depending on who you asked), Ra wasn't the great-grandfather of Horus, but for the sake of simplicity, he is in this version.**

 **Be sure to review.**


	11. The Search for the Sun

_**The Search for the Sun**_

After about a day, it was time for the Fiore mages to set out with the Prince of Aaru. For good measure, Wendy and Chelia called Gray and Juvia to assist; Lyon would've come too, but according to Gray, he was busy with another job. When asked, both Erza and Kagura determined they would be enough to represent their guild.

Horus admitted he had no idea where he was going, but it was decided that they would start where the trail went cold for him; which was about a day's journey away. To that end, it was soon time for Natsu and Lucy to say goodbye to their child.

"Be good, baby," Lucy said, as she kissed Iggy on the forehead, "We'll be home before you know it."

"Don't worry, kid," Natsu said, as he ruffled his son's hair, "You're mom and dad aren't going to be gone long." Iggy just sniffled slightly, clearly no happy to be separated from his parents.

"Be sure you come back soon," Hisui said, "I love Iggy, but I'm no substitute for his parents."

"That's the plan," Lucy said, as she and Natsu left, "Bye Iggy! We love you!" Iggy just waved at his parents as they left to join the others, before the whole group struck into the wild blue yonder.

 **(sometime later)**

Horus sighed, as he rubbed his forehead; this was a waste of time, there was no way they would find Ra soon, and Set wasn't a patient one. The invasion could come at anytime, and when it did, Horus didn't doubt that Fiore would buckle fairly quickly.

The prince then glanced back at the foreigners, noticing how while they were walking in a group, they were clearly divided into their own subgroups. The soldier and his wife were walking alone with their flying cat, the Council enforcers were were doing the same, while the guild members were divided into their various guilds. They were currently making their way to the mountains, where Horus had his most recent lead on Ra.

Pulling out the sun amulet, and looking at it closely, Horus considered what his grandmother, Nut, told him. She said that he was in Ishgar, and "follow the sun, and you will find the founder", and didn't tell him anything about the . She had said that in the evening, as the sun was setting, so Horus assumed it was in the West, which lead him to Fiore eventually, but after spending over a year searching, he made no real progress.

"Horus, can I ask you a question?" Levy suddenly asked, breaking the prince from his thoughts.

"What is it?"

"If you don't mind me asking, what's that magic you used when you fought us?" Levy asked, "I've never seen it before." Horus was silent for a second, as he seemed to ponder whether or not he wanted to answer, before apparently deciding he did.

"What I wield is a kind of magic based on the Netjer that is bonded to me," he explained.

"Netjer?"

"Netjer are magical beings that don't have a physical form in our world," Horus explained, "However, its possible for someone to bond with one of them, gaining their power; most Netjer possess different aspects, the Netjer that's bonded to me is the Aspect of Kings."

"So they're like Celestial Spirits, then?" Lucy suggested.

"That might be something of an oversimplification, but in the broadest sense, yes," Horus answered.

"Does anyone else have Netjer bonded to them?" Levy asked.

"Every member of my family, and the inner members of the Royal Circle," Horus answered, "Unfortunately that includes my Uncle, and its not an exaggeration to say that his Netjer is one of the most powerful."

"How powerful is 'one of the most powerful'?" Kagura asked.

"The only one who surpasses him in power is Ra himself, who is bonded to the Aspect of the Sun."

"That's not a good point of reference when we don't know how powerful Ra is"

"You have your Ten Wizard Saints, yes?"

"What about them?"

"Well, Ra is just as, if not more powerful than all of them," Horus said plainly. That surprised the Fiore mages somewhat; that was certainly no small statement.

"Such power must be hard to regulate," Levy said.

"I don't envy the Council in your country," Gajeel added.

"We don't have one," Horus said plainly, to the surprise of those assembled.

"You don't have a Magic Council in Aaru?" Gajeel asked, sounding shocked.

"Must be great," Natsu quipped to himself.

"Of course not," Horus said, "We don't have these ridiculous guilds, either."

"Really, you don't have guilds?" Happy asked.

"Certainly not," Horus answered, "We never had guilds in our country; the role of the mages should be to serve the good of the whole kingdom, not just to get paid for doing odd jobs."

"There's more to be a guild than that," Gray protested.

"Right, I'm sure," Horus answered, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Then what do you mages do in Aaru?" Lucy asked.

"Any mages in our kingdom can enroll in the Royal Academy," Horus explained, "There they can get training in their abilities, and eventually they join the Magical Order, under the direct authority of the Pharaoh."

"What if they choose not too?"

"They never do."

"That seems kind of…" Lucy couldn't think of a word for it. Honestly it seemed kind of tyrannical; essentially forcing mages to serve their ruler, instead of being free to pursue their own goals. It reminded her of Edolas a little too much. She instinctively took Natsu's hand, who squeezed slightly.

"To shift the topic," Erza said, "What is our plan when we arrive at this place?"

"This is where your help is supposed to come in," Horus answered.

"Didn't you say that your amulet is supposed to help find him?"

"That's what Grandmother said," Horus answered, "She didn't actually tell he how it specifically worked."

"Everyone stop!" As this was Erza saying it, everyone sans Horus did exactly that, "We've been walking for a while now, let's take break." Nobody protested, as they all sat down. As they sat beside each other, Lucy leaned her head on Natsu's shoulder, as she began to doze slightly; at the same time, Levy leaned her back on Gajeel's side as she started reading; seeing them, Juvia pouted in jealously.

"Can I talk to you?" Erza asked, gesturing for Horus to follow him, which he did.

"What is it?" the prince asked once they were separate from the rest of the group.

"So we basically have no plan?" Erza said, pinching herself between the eyes.

"If you've got any suggestions, I'm ready and willing to hear them."

"Give me the amulet," Erza said with a gesture. After a moment's hesitation, Horus handed her the disc, which she looked over carefully.

"What have you tried with it?" she asked.

"Just about everything," Horus answered, "I even tried putting a few drops of blood on it. All Nut told me before I left was 'follow the sun'." Erza considered those words as she held up the amulet up to the late morning sun. Nothing about it caught her eye, as she chewed on her lip slightly. But as she was holding it, she noticed some light glinting off it, she then looked down at the light refracting off it on the ground. There, it formed what looked a bird with its wings spread, which was strange since that image didn't appear anywhere on the amulet. That was when it came to the knight.

"Its the refraction," the scarlet haired knight said, pointing to the image, "The bird is pointing to where we need to go." Horus looked down and inspected it, before his eyes widened.

"By the gods, you're right," he answered in surprise.

"Everyone get up!" Erza shouted to her traveling companions.

"Already?" Gray complained, "But we just…"

"I know where we need to go!"

 **(a couple hours later)**

Using the amulet, the group eventually were lead to a small clearing on the edge of the mountains around noon.

"Well, this is where the amulet was pointing us," Erza said, holding up said amulet.

"So where the hell is this guy?" Natsu said, spreading his arms, "I don't see anyone else around here."

"I don't know," Erza said, "This is just where the amulet sent us."

"Maybe its faulty," Gajeel said, glaring slightly.

"No!" Horus quickly insisted, "My grandmother would not have given me anything 'faulty'."

"You sure about that?" Natsu said plainly. Gritting his teeth, Horus then looked into the sky, hoping to find any sign of anything, and noticed a very light glint in the sky, as his eyes widened in realization.

"I should've expected this," the prince muttered.

"What is it?"

"Ra's in the sky!" he declared.

"What was that now?" Gray asked, as he and everyone else were surprised by that statement.

"He's on a magical invention from Aaru called a sun barge. Its a kind of airship that flies very high, and literally sails on sunlight. It makes sense that he would be up there instead of down here."

"How high up, is it?"

"Beyond the clouds, obviously," Erza answered, "The question now is how do we get up there." Several people looked at Horus, who just shrugged.

"You're smart," he said, "I'm sure you'll figure it out." With that, he transformed his golden falcon, and flapped into the air.

"Well that's all well and good, but what do we do?" Chelia asked. Natsu took a breath as he folded his arms across his chest, and concentrated. Fire then gathered around his arms, and lashing them out revealed a pair of wings made from fire.

"What the…," Gajeel said.

"This is something knew I learned," Natsu answered. He then gestured, and Lucy wrapped his arms around his neck; Natsu then beat his fire wings, and took off into the sky after Horus.

"Hey!" Gray shouted, "What about us?"

"Sad to say, I never learned a technique like that," Gajeel said.

"Its not entirely preferable, but I've got this," Erza said, as she re-quipped into her Black Wing Armor, which had a pair of wings. Kagura hooked her arms around Erza's, as Erza floated into the air.

"This still doesn't answer my question!" Gray shouted again, waving his arms. He was interrupted when both he and Juvia were grabbed by Happy in his battle form.

"Hold on!" he said as he flew up. That gave Pantherlily the same idea, as he picked up Gajeel and Levy and flew up. That left the Sky Sisters.

"I could carry one of you," Carla said as she assumed her human form, "But I'm not strong enough to carry both."

"Don't worry, I think I can get up on my own," Wendy said, as she took a deep breath, and entered Dragon Force.

"Are you sure?" Chelia asked, "You said you haven't fully mastered this yet."

"Well, no time like the present to test it out," Wendy said with a confident smile. She then gathered her wind around her, before leaping into the air, the wind boosting her up. It was a technique Wendy had been practicing over the past year; by manipulating the air around her, she was able to achieve some form of pseudo flight. It wasn't perfect, but it should be enough for her to get to wherever they needed to go at the time. Chelia was then picked up by Carla, as they went after the others, with Horus in the lead.

"It comes to my attention," Lucy said to Natsu, as she held onto her husband, "Does this guy know we're coming?"

"I don't think he is," Natsu answered.

"That's probably not a good think," Lucy said.

"Eh?" Natsu answered, "I think we'll be good."

As the Fiore mages and the prince flew up towards where Ra was, from the bushes beneath them, watched the red serpent from Orochi Fin. It just flicked its tongue, before slithering back into the shadows.

 **Note: "Netjer" is derived from the Ancient Egyptian word for "god" or "deity". You're free to take some guesses as to what the other potential Netjer are based on how this arc is going.**

 **Things are going to pick up here, especially as they come to meet Ra. But for the sake of spoilers, I'll just leave it at that.**

 **Be sure to review.**

 **Quick note: if you are into Ancient Egypt in anyway, I highly recommend the manga** _ **Im: Great Priest Imhotep**_ **by Makoto Morishita. Its definitely one of my new favorites.**


	12. Ra

_**Ra**_

As it turned out, Ra's ship was much higher than Horus had given any indication of. Nobody even got a good look until they broke through the clouds. There they could see it; the sun barge was long and sleek, with a pointed bow, and seemed to made entirely out of smooth black stone, save for occasional lines of gold. Towards the stern, there was a raised pedestal with stairs that lead to an elegant throne that had another sun disc looming over it. It didn't have anything resembling sails, rather it seemed to be floating on what looked like gold water; Lucy remembered that Horus said these "sun barges" sailed on sunlight, and maybe that is what he meant.

Horus returned to his human form as he landed on the ship's deck first, followed closely by the Fiore mages. Fortunately it wasn't moving, so the Dragon Slayers weren't immediately incapacitated. He then approached a small table with a single that stood alone on the otherwise empty deck. Sitting in front of the table, was a man. Said man was covered in a white robe with gold lining, with his hood obscuring his face. He wasn't facing him, and he was hunched over, his wrinkled hands leaned on some kind of walking stick, as if he were asleep.

"Praise upon thee, great Ra, Honored Founder of Aaru, Master of the Lands, and the Sun itself brought to the Earth," Horus said as he fell to one knee. Noticing the Fiore mages weren't doing anything, he jerked his head, as most of them, save for Natsu, Lucy, and Happy knelt. As soldiers, the guys weren't going to bow to a foreign king, and Lucy was going to back up her husband. At first, the old man didn't say anything in response to the prince.

"I am…."

"Normally when a bird lands on my barge, I kill it before it can shit," the man interrupted, not looking up, "I know who you are great grandson."

"That's a way to greet someone," Levy said with a slight sweat drop.

"I suppose I should commend you for being able to find me," Ra said, "It must've been quite a venture."

"I was given direction by my grandmother, Nut."

"Ah, I could always trust my daughter to be able to find me. Who are your foreign companions?"

"I'm Commander Natsu Dragneel of the Fiore Royal Army," Natsu said, stepping forward, "This is my assistant, Happy, and my wife, Lucy Heartfilia."

"I'm Captain Gajeel Redfox of the Magic Council Custody Division," Gajeel said.

"And I'm Levy McGarden, also of the Custody Division," Levy said, "This is Pantherlily."

"The rest of us are all members of the mage guilds Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale," Erza said, as she and the rest of the mages showed their guild marks. Ra still didn't face them, as he remained hunch over.

"I'm honored, not only did I earn the attention of the local authorities, but also of the local job establishment," he eventually said as he finally turned to them, lowering his hood as he did. Looking at them was quite possibly the oldest man any of the Fiore mages had seen. His light brown skin was covered in wrinkles and spots, and his head had no hair.

"Why have you come?"

"I would ask your assistance," Horus said.

"Oh, then let me stop my own efforts, and do what you wish," Ra said sarcastically as he slowly rose to his feet, and started limping away towards the stairs with his stick.

"Great Grandfather please," Horus said, "This is urgent."

"Is that so?" Ra responded, as he looked back at them, "Because all I see in front of me is an entitled prince…" He gestured at Horus.

"…soldiers with no true loyalty to their country…" He gestured to Natsu, Lucy and Happy.

"…the hitmen of an order of self-serving bureaucrats…" He gestured to Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily.

"…and a band of glorified mercenaries, whose only loyalty is to the highest bidder." Finally, he gestured to the guilds assembled.

"Forgive me, but none of you scream urgency," Ra said plainly with a bored gesture, before he limped away towards his throne. Horus looked to protest, as did Erza and Natsu, but Gajeel actually beat them to the punch.

"Listen you old geezer!" he snapped, "You're flying an illegal, unregistered vehicle, using a form of illegal magic!"

"Illegal?" Ra asked, neither looking at Gajeel, nor stopping, "And why is it illegal?"

"Because the Council…"

"Ah," Ra interrupted, "Now that alone demonstrates your capacity of thought."

"You know I could arrest you!" Gajeel blurted out. That finally made Ra stop as he turned and looked the Iron Dragon Slayer straight in the eye.

"Trust me, my boy," he said calmly, "You certainly do not want to make such an attempt." Though Ra was not a particularly imposing man, Gajeel felt more than a little cowed by the old man's words.

"Great Grandfather, Set has seized the throne," Horus said as he tried to follow Ra, "He's imprisoned Osiris, and is poised to invade Ishgar."

"We're not here to argue," Erza said, stepping forward, "We're here because our country is currently at risk from your's."

"One country is always at risk from another," Ra responded as he climbed the steps, "It is the way of the world."

"Horus said you're our best chance to stop a war," Wendy said, "Can't you help us?"

"I'm not sure what you expect me to do," Ra answered as he made it to the top of the steps and sat in his throne.

"Come back to Aaru," Horus said as he stood at the base of the stairs, "Put Set in his place and stop the war before it begins."

"And restore your father to the throne?" Horus opened his mouth than closed it.

"That makes it clear."

"Well, why wouldn't you?" Lucy asked, as she stepped forward, "His father's your grandson right? He's the rightful pharaoh." Ra just laughed.

"If you only knew, child," he answered.

"What does that mean?" Gray demanded. Everyone looked at Horus as he looked down.

"I'll let him tell you on his own time," Ra said.

"Look," Kagura said as she also stepped forward, "The fact of the matter is that there is the potential for a war that'll harm both of our nations. As a leader, you have an obligation to try and do something about it. So, are you going to do something about it? Or just sit all proud and distant on your throne?" Ra listened to those words, as he tapped his finger on his armrest, considering them.

"The real fact of the matter is that I didn't come here fleeing anything, or because I wanted to retire to some other continent," Ra explained, "I am here seeking something."

"What're you seeking?" Happy piped up. Ra frowned, as he shifted slightly in his seat.

"My greatest mistake," he finally answered, "Beyond that, I can only say that I have obligations and responsibilities at this point that go beyond the needs of an single nation or people. I cannot help you."

"But what if…"

"My mind is made up. I suggest you consider other options."

"Wait!" Gray said, "You can't just…"

"Now, I would like to politely request that you all get off my boat," Ra said plainly, waving his hand in a "shoo" like motion. Others move to protest, but true to form, the resident Fire Dragon Slayer took the initiative, and boosted himself up to Ra's throne.

"Dragneel!" Horus snapped.

"Listen you old fart," Natsu said, grabbing him by the collar, "I don't care what you think of me being as a soldier. But my three month old son is down there in Crocus, which will soon be attacked by your country. I normally wouldn't give a crap if you weren't going to help us, but bird boy down there says you're our only chance, so I don't care if I have to beat you up and drag out to Aaru. You're going there with us!" If Ra was intimidated he didn't looked even remotely so, he just held up his hand and flicked his finger. An unseen then sent Natsu careening back to the deck, landing flat on his face.

"Natsu!" Lucy and Wendy cried as they ran over to him.

"I've heard you're very powerful," Erza said as she and her sister stepped forward, both with their blades at the ready, "But we've took on powerful enemies before."

"Am I your enemy?"

"You may not be with our enemies themselves, but by not doing anything to stop them, you may as well be helping them," Gray said, "That would make you our enemy." Ra looked at them for a second, and with that he actually laughed again.

"Well, you young-ings are certainly not lacking in passion," he said, as he leaned on his hand, before looking at Horus, "You say Set seeks to turn our kingdom into an empire?"

"Yes, Great Grandfather," Horus answered with a nod. Ra was silently for a time, thinking, before taking a breath.

"I cannot give you the help that you need," he finally said, "My obligations here are far too important for me to abandon. But I can take you to Aaru."

"Take us to Aaru?" Horus asked, "What about Set? I'm not strong enough to beat him

"I cannot tell you what to do exactly," Ra responded, "It'll be a battle you will have to fight yourself."

"That's it?" Chelia asked, "You can't do anything else?"

"If I abandon what I am doing now, then you're country could potentially be in greater danger than anything Set could impose," Ra explained.

"How long would it take to fly to Aaru?" Juvia asked.

"Fly?" Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel all asked at once.

"Only a day."

"Seriously?" Erza asked, "That little?"

"You underestimate Aaru technology little one," Ra answered with a smile, "We shall depart immediately." He then held up his walking stick, which turned out to be some kind of short spear. He then swung out over his head once. With a rather sharp jerk, the barge seemed to abruptly turned a full 180 degrees, much to the horror of the Dragon Slayers, as they all keeled over to the ground.

"Are they okay?" Horus asked, gesturing to them.

"Oh, they're fine," Carla answered, as she set a now sleeping Chelia on the ground, "Though they'll groan the whole journey, whenever we stop, they'll be right back on their feet."

"This trip now suddenly seems like its going to be a lot more unpleasant," Horus grumbled. Pulling Natsu over to the bottom of the steps, Lucy sat down and positioned his head into her lap as she started stroking his hair. That brought Natsu some comfort as he snuggled into Lucy's lap, causing her to smile.

The blonde then looked out over the land. Lucy had never been so high up in the sky, and the view was astounding. She was so high she almost thought she could see the curvature of the world.

"I wonder if this is how Natsu felt when he flew with Igneel," she muttered to herself. Horus sat on the steps as well, his face in his hand. Lucy considered going over to talk with him, but figured there wasn't anything to say. With that, she just kept her attention on her husband, and hoped that he wouldn't puke all over her legs.

 **Note: Continuing on with things here, they've found Ra, and are now going to Aaru. It won't be a long journey obviously, and I only plan on having one more chapter before they reach it. Because let's be honest, staying on a flying boat high in the sky with only a certain amount of characters will probably become dry fairly soon.**

 **So there's something Horus isn't telling the heroes. I won't tell you, but those say with Egyptian mythology may have an idea.**

 **Little note is that some will notice Lucy kept her maiden name; I can completely see her doing that in universe, as I feel her last name is something that she would treasure in memory of her parents.**

 **Be sure to review.**


	13. The Journey to Aaru

_**The Journey to Aaru**_

While the trip to Aaru was going to be relatively short, one day on any form of transportation may as well have been a hundred for the Dragon Slayers. The three of them spent most of their time hanging over the edge of the boat either actively puking their guts out or trying their best not to. The rest of the mages were assembled at the foot of the stairs to Ra's pedestal.

"I feel very sorry for the poor saps who we're flying over," Gray said as he leaned on one of the several statues that were littered across the ship's deck.

"We're flying mostly over the ocean by this point," Erza said, "No need to. Though looking out over the water makes me realize how high up we are."

"Actually that's a good point," Levy said, "Up at this height, the air should be thinner, and yet we have no trouble breathing."

"Its part of the sun barge's magic," Horus explained as he sat on the stairs, his hands folded, "These ships were designed for quick, long distance travel. Its probably Aaru's greatest invention."

"Though its not quick enough when it comes to those three," Carla said, jerking her paw in the Dragon Slayer's direction.

"Especially with Nat…," Lucy glanced over, and saw that Natsu wasn't on Wendy's left anymore, "Where did he… NATSU!" Everyone ran to the edge as Wendy weakly pointed downward.

"I've got him!" Happy said said as he swooped down after the falling Dragon Slayer. He quickly returned with Natsu in his arms.

"No!" Natsu cried, "Let me fall! Don't make me keep riding this thing!" However, Happy promptly set him down. However, before Natsu could groan out, Lucy threw her arms around him.

"You be more careful!" she hissed, blinking away a couple tears. Natsu just returned the hug, somehow not feeling sick when in her arms. Seeing her former guild mates together made Erza feel happy for them, but it reminded her of something. After everything they went through, how could they not have invited her, or any of them, to their wedding, or even told them when they had their first child.

"So," she said, stepping forward, "How was your wedding?"

"There wasn't much to it," Lucy answered, as she gently lowered Natsu back to the floor.

"Why weren't any of us invited?" Levy asked bluntly. Lucy looked up to see everyone looking at her.

"I… I'm not sure," she said. That was a lie; she knew exactly why they weren't invited. Neither Natsu nor Lucy (though she hated to admit it) wanted any of them there. Everyone seemed to have really moved on, and to have gone on their own paths; ever since the guild disbanded, it wasn't like any of their friends had visited them in the time that passed. The couple had just assumed that they weren't interested in it anymore.

Lucy remembered what she said to Natsu back during the Orochi Fin debacle, that there was more to their friendship than just the guild. But did the blonde really believe in it herself? Did her former guild mates believe it?

"You didn't visit us," she finally said, "I just assumed you didn't want to." Everyone stared at her for a time.

"Come on Kagura," Erza said, gesturing, "Let's do some practice."

"I've got some paperwork to go over," Levy said. Gray just walked away, and Juvia followed him. Carla and Lily both walked over to their Dragon Slayers, while Happy stayed next to Lucy.

During this, Horus had been sitting a couple steps down from Ra's throne, watching. He looked up at his great-grandfather, who was frowning at the guilds assembled down there.

 **(later that night)**

As it turned out, the sun barge couldn't fly during the night, which was rather obvious in hindsight. To ensure that they didn't accidentally roll off the ship while sleeping, most of the people were below deck. Natsu was one of the few who wasn't, as he sat on the steps, staring at the stars.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Natsu sat up to see that Ra had somehow come over without Natsu noticing him.

"What're you doing up?" Natsu asked, "I thought old guys slept a lot."

"They do," Ra said, "And yet here I stand. There, I answered your question, now answer mine." Natsu frowned, but sighed, looking back at the stars.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out to watch the stars," he said, "They make me think of Lucy."

"Said woman is your wife, yes?" Ra asked, as he slowly lowered himself onto the steps, "You know you can simply go down there and be with her, no need to just think about her."

"Yeah well, she could sleep, and I didn't want to bother her," Natsu responded.

"A sound reason I suppose," Ra answered, "I imagine she is quite the treasure."

"You've got no idea."

"I have a better one than you may think, my boy. I was once married too; though she has long since passed, gods bless her."

"Sorry about that," Natsu said, looking at the old man. He loved his wife too, and couldn't bear the thought of ever losing her.

"You know, she looked quite a bit like your own," Ra said, "Her name was Ma'at."

"You perving on my wife?" Natsu asked, shooting the older man a look. Ra just laughed.

"And a protective husband at that," he said, "Well, it means you must be a good father." Natsu opened his mouth, than realized he hadn't told him about Iggy.

"Wait, how did you know I had a son? Did the bird boy tell you?"

"No," Ra answered, "You just did." Natsu couldn't help but feel somewhat embarrassed as he looked away, causing the old man to chuckle again, as he looked into the sky with Natsu.

"You're very angry," he suddenly said.

"What?"

"Don't try and deny it, I've been around long enough to notice such things." Natsu just scowled at the sky some more.

"What's it to you?" he asked.

"I would very much prefer that you not bring hostilities onto my barge," Ra answered, "Now I will ask plainly, why are you angry?"

"None of your business," Natsu answered.

"Anything on my barge is very much by business, boy," Ra responded, frowning slightly, "I need to know that your anger isn't going to be an issue."

"It won't be." Ra looked at him carefully for a time.

"See to it that its not," he said, as he slowly got back up, and ascended back to his throne. As he did, he snapped his fingers. Natsu suddenly felt a lot more tired, as he decided to go back to his wife.

 **(the next morning)**

Once the sun had risen, they could continue their journey towards Aaru. Once again, the different guilds stood separate from each other, as did the soldiers and the Council members. That was of course except for the Dragon Slayers, who were still all slouched together over the side of the barge. Horus was standing at the bow of the boat, staring into the horizon.

"There it is," he suddenly said, pointing. Everyone looked at him.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"Aaru." Everyone went to the bow to see the coming land. It was vast stretch of green on the blue of the ocean, with creases of blue, while streaks of red sands were on either horizon. A large cluster of white buildings sprung out form the green.

"Finally," three voices sounded out.

"Its… beautiful," Kagura said.

"That is the port city of Thutmose," Horus explained, pointing to the white buildings "One of Aaru's largest cities."

"Is that where we're going?" Gray asked.

"No, we're going to the capital, Rameses."

"Though I am afraid that this is as far as I can take you," Ra said, "Any further, and I run the risk of being seen, something I could much rather avoid at this point."

"We're going to have to get a boat in Thutmose," Horus said, "Then we can sail down the river."

"Boat?!" the Dragon Slayers cried.

"Relax," Horus said, "It is not a long journey."

"That's what you said about the journey here," Gajeel moaned.

"This wasn't that long a journey all things considered," Levy noted.

"So what do now?" Gray asked. Ra tapped his staff on the ground, as the sun boat came to a halt.

"You all get off my vessel," he said. Horus looked to Ra, and bowed slightly.

"Thank you for your assistance, Great Grandfather," he said. Ra just nodded slightly.

"Before you depart," he said, leaning forward "heed this advice: perhaps kingdom does not belong to Set, but that does not mean it belongs to you." Horus looked up at his grandfather, before looking away. He then turned back into a falcon, as everyone descended down towards the ground. Ra watched them as he did.

"May your path be one of order," he said softly, as he swung his staff again, and the ship veered away.

 **Note: For those who don't know, Ma'at was essentially the Egyptian concept of "Order" ("Ma'at" actually means "order"), and the entire religion was centered around the preservation of it, against the forces of "Chaos". Sometimes Ma'at is personified as a woman (occasionally married to the god Thoth), other times its just an abstract concept.**

 **As you may have noticed, I'm using the names of Egyptian pharaohs for the names of cities in Aaru. I broadly based the city of Thutmose and the surrounding lands on the Nile delta.**

 **Be sure to review.**


	14. The City of Kings

_**The City of Kings**_

The group didn't have much time to explore Thutmose, as Horus insisted that they move quickly. Getting the boat was the easy part, and Horus said it would only be a few hours before they reached the capital. The Dragon Slayers spent said hours in the typical state, while Chelia spent it snoring.

According to Horus, much of the kingdom of Aaru was built around the Great River that ran through its center, and around its tributaries, with the much of the rest of the kingdom being desert. It was originally apparently a nation of disparate warlords and princes until Ra united all of them into a single nation. To that end, some called Aaru the "Kingdom of Many Lands".

They soon reached a small fishing village where Horus told them to disembark, saying that ship were being inspected more routinely now, and it would be safer to go on foot, much to the Slayers relief. Soon enough they made it to the city, and everyone was more than a little awed by it. Rameses was just as big, if not bigger than Crocus, with rectangular buildings which were all a startling white. Docks and canals crisscrossed through the city. But what really caught the eye were the walls, not because of their size (not much larger than those of Crocus), but because of the massive statues that lined them. Each one was of a human body, but with an animal head. There were all sorts of animals including cats, falcons, and crocodiles to name a few, but there was one that wasn't so familiar. It had a long, curved snout that ended with a sharp toothed mouth, with a set of large, square ears that pointed straight up.

"What is that?" Wendy asked, pointing. Horus looked at the statue, and grimaced.

"That's a sha," he answered, "A creature native to Aaru; its the animal my uncle uses as his personal sigil." Though it was just a statue, Wendy felt rather unnerved by this, as she shuddered. Natsu noticed it, and instinctively moved to put a hand on her shoulder, but Chelia put hers on Wendy first, and the Sky Dragon Slayer moved closer to her. Natsu cringed slightly, as he took a breath; taking note of it, Lucy took Natsu's hand and gave it a squeeze.

Horus dug into one of his pockets and pulled out a few bags, passing them out to the foreigners. When she opened them, Lucy found coins in them that had the sigils of the same strange animal as the statues.

"What're these?" she asked.

"These are deben, the currency here in Aaru," Horus answered, "Each bag has about one hundred of them in there. Use them wisely while here."

"Will we need them?" Erza asked.

"Better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them," Horus answered, "Now one last warning: foreigners aren't commonly seen in Aaru, especially not in Ramesses. A big troupe of them is going to attract a lot of unwanted attention."

"So we split up then," Gray said, "Easy enough."

"We can reconvene come sunset at that inn," Horus said, pointing to a nearby establishment, "Until then, keep a low profile. Pretending your tourists or something, come to see this amazing country's culture for yourself."

Deciding to take his advice, then group then split up into their groups, naturally divided by occupation. Natsu, Lucy and Happy in one, Erza and Kagura in another, Gajeel, Levy and Pantherlily in one, the Sky Sisters and Carla in a fourth (with whom Horus decided to join with), and Gray and Juvia in the last one. Once entering the gates, each group went their separate ways.

The Dragneel-Heartfilia family wandered slightly until they ended up in a large marketplace. Lucy was impressed by the various toys that they had, as she stopped one of the stands selling them.

"Hey, Natsu," Lucy said as she picked up a little toy falcon, "Do you think Iggy would like this?"

"I guess," Natsu answered with a shrug.

"I'll take it," Lucy said. After paying for it, she slipped it into her bag.

"This place isn't that bad," she said, "If not a for potential war coming up, I wouldn't mind coming here for a vacation."

"I'm not so sure," Natsu said, "I'm getting Edolas-vibes." And despite her otherwise taking a liking to the place, Lucy had to agree with her husband there; while all the people seemed happy, there was also this underlying sense of oppression. Like the people were happy because something bad was happening somewhere else.

"Well, one foreign crisis at a time," Lucy said, "We've got time to kill, let's see more of the city." Natsu didn't argue, rather he just nodded and followed his wife while Happy sat on his shoulder.

 **(with the Dual Swords)**

Erza wiped her brow slightly. It was certainly far hotter here than in Fiore. But she didn't mind; if anything the former Queen of the Fairies wanted to see the desert more than anything else. She had seen it from the distance, and honestly she found it just as beautiful as the river.

"Hey, Erza," Kagura called. Erza noticed that her guild sister had walked over to a weapon's stand. Coming up to her, she noticed Kagura holding a peculiar sword in her hands.

"Have you ever seen a blade like this?" Kagura asked, holding it out for Erza to take. The first part of the blade was straight, but it then it made a sudden curve like a saber.

"Well, I can't say that I have," Erza said, as she gave a couple of practice swings, "What're they?"

"These are khopesh," the blacksmith answered, "They're the native weapons of Aaru." Erza spun the weapon through her hands; it was a little heavy, but had a flare that Erza liked.

"I'll take one," Erza said, as she paid the smith, and stored it in her inventory, "This country certainly has its surprises."

"We don't get many foreigners here," the smith said, "Where are you from?"

"Somewhere you wouldn't know," Erza said, and fortunately the topic wasn't pursued, and the Dual Swords managed to retreat.

 **(with Gray and Juvia)**

Juvia ran her hand through the river waters, smiling slightly.

"This water here is nice," she said, "Its very pristine, even here in the canals. Maybe its magic in its own way." Gray wasn't really paying attention as he looked around. He and Juvia were at one of the canal docks. The Maker Mage was more impressed by the architecture.

"These buildings are impressive," Gray said, "They're much bigger than anything we have in Fiore."

"I wonder if its some kind of magic," Juvia said.

"Well that'd kind of seem like overkill," Gray said, "You don't need magic for _everything_."

"I wonder what Fiore would like if they used magic like that here," Juvia mused, "I'd love to see structures like this back at home."

"Careful, Juvia," Gray answered, glancing at her, "Don't forget, if Horus is right, then Set wants that too, except he plans to do it by tearing down the olds ones." Juvia just grimaced, not particularly liking that thought either.

 **(with the Magic Council)**

Look around, Gajeel was struggling not to start arresting everyone around him. He could see so many violations of Council law it flew like his head was going to explode.

"You should really relax," Levy said as she thumbed through the books she was currently looking at, "If you keep looking at people like you're planning to kill them, you'll get us in trouble." The trio had stumbled across a bookstore, much to Levy's excitement, and the blue-haired girl was now dedicating the time to studying every single book in there. Though its history was short, the culture of Aaru continued to fascinate her.

"I still can't believe that this place doesn't have a Magic Council," Gajeel grumbled.

"Well it makes sense when you think about it," Lily said as he stood on a nearby table, "Its not like Fiore was always under the Council's jurisdiction, and this country's still young, all things considered."

"Yeah, but still," Gajeel said, glancing around some more, "I mean look at that kid!" Levy and Lily followed his pointing finger, and saw a kid using some kind of magical device to make wooden figures dance.

"You know that's not even illegal in Ishgar, right?" Levy said with a sweat drop.

 **(with the Sky Sisters and Horus)**

Perhaps it was because they were with Horus, but the Sky Sisters had made there way to the general city center. There they had expected to find the palace, but instead Horus had lead them to a massive complex, with large square buildings, and more of those animal headed statues.

"What is this place?" Carla inquired. She had stayed in human form, if only because it attracted slightly less attention than a talking cat (of course Happy and Lily didn't have that same advantage, but c'est la vie).

Before answering, Horus went to his knees, folded his hands, and gave what sounded like a brief prayer. That at least made it clear to the girls that it was some kind of temple.

"This is the Great Temple of the Netjer," Horus answered once he was done, "All the Netjer are kept here, though most of them are currently bound to hosts."

"Kept here?" Chelia asked, "What does that mean?" Horus paused as if considering something.

"I suppose there's no harm in taking you in with most of the Netjer no longer housed there," he said, before gesturing him to follow him.

There was a large, open room, ringed with small pedestal. Each pedestal had some kind of statue looming behind it. All the pedestals were empty save for one though, which had some kind of jar on it.

"This is where the Netjer are kept when they aren't bonded to anyone," Horus explained, "When the one who is bonded to the Netjer dies, or gives up its connection, the Netjer returns to the temple, and enters one of these jars, to await a new human to bond with."

"So what's in that jar?" Wendy asked, pointing to the one that was at the head of the room.

"That's the Netjer of Order," Horus said, as he made what looked like a religious gesture towards it, "Supposedly its the most powerful Netjer there is, even more than the one Ra is bonded to."

"Why isn't it bonded to anyone?"

"No one has bonded to it since my great-grandmother, Ma'at, Ra's wife," the prince answered, "Many have tried to bond with it, but it always rejects them. Nobody knows why."

"I wonder why," Chelia mused. Not really interested in the discussion, Carla's eyes had wandered to the side of the room, and noticed that one of the pedestals was broken, looking strangely out of place. The statue behind it looked like a snake, though its head was missing, like it had been chipped off.

"What's that over there?" the cat girl asked. Horus glanced in that direction, and frowned.

"I don't know," he answered, "I asked my father once and he said he didn't know either." Shifting on his feet slightly, he then gestured for the girls to follow him out of the temple.

"It looks like its getting late," Chelia said, noticing the sun beginning to dip into the horizon, "We should head to the inn." Horus nodded in agreement, before looking in what seemed to be random direction, furrowing his brow.

"You go ahead," he said, "There's something I have to do." Not bothering to wait for a response, he turned into a falcon, and flew away.

 **(deep within the city)**

The Pharaonic Palace was at the approximate back of the city, laid out in such a way so that the rest of the city spread out from it, like the rays of the sun. A colossal complex, it alone was half the size of Magnolia. But Horus was only interested in one particular part of it. As night was falling, he flew down to one of the wings, to an open window and sat on the window sill.

Within the room was a young woman, about Horus' age, perhaps slightly younger. She had long orange hair, and fair skin. She was wearing a simple white and pink night gown. She was facing away from the window as she brushed her hair, but as Horus turned back into a human, she looked back, and her large blue eyes widened.

"Horus," she breathed.

"Hathor," Horus responded. The two stared at each other for a moment, before the girl launched herself at Horus, who caught her in his embrace.

"I missed you so much," Hathor said through her tears.

"Not as much as I missed you," Horus answered as he tightened his hold on her, as if she would disappear if he let her go. The two slowly parted, only to bring their lips together. Once the moment had passed, the two went to sit side by side on Hathor's bed, the woman leaning on Horus' shoulder, and their hands intertwining.

"How's my mother?" Horus asked.

"Fine as far as I know," Hathor answered, "Set knows better than to hurt Isis at this point. I think he'll leave her alone for the time being. But I can't say I know what she's up to."

"Well, it wouldn't be like her to not do so," Horus responded.

"Did you find Ra?" Hathor asked.

"It took some time, but I did," Horus answered, "Though I did have some help from the locals."

"And?"

"He won't help," Horus said grimly. Hathor scowled at that.

"He won't come to help his own country?" she asked angrily.

"I don't know what Ra's reasons are, but I'm sure he has some."

"Well, so much for that plan, then," Hathor said, "What do we do now?"

"Do we have any allies aside from my mother?" Horus asked.

"Bast seems to oppose Set, but I don't need to tell you what she thinks of Osiris," Hathor answered, "Thoth clearly doesn't Set him either, but he went South a year ago, and hasn't been seen since. There's also Nephthys, she doesn't really like Set."

"We shouldn't bet on her turning on her husband like that," Horus said, shaking his head, "Do we have anyone else?" Hathor's grim silence told him all he needed to know.

"Truly?" he asked, "Even Ptah and the Twins?"

"If nothing else, they think Set's a step up from your father."

"What about my grandparents?"

"Nut and Geb still haven't returned to the capital," Hathor answered, "As far as everyone's aware, they're still in the countryside."

"Don't worry," he said as he squeezed Hathor's hand, "I'll figure something out. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"You sure you want an answer to that?" Hathor answered with a slight smile. Horus chuckled slightly, before using his free hand to bring his face to her's.

"We will save Aaru," he said, "And when its all over, we'll be together again, I promise. I swear on the Aspect of Kings that dwells within me." Hathor didn't answer, she just wrapped her arms around Horus' shoulders and fell on him, pushing him back onto the bed.

"But in the mean time…," she said with a sly smile. Horus just returned the smile as they kissed again.

 **Note: I decided to base Hathor's design on that of Shirley from** _ **Code Geass**_ **(don't worry, that's the end of that theme). I also based the appearance of Rameses on how Memphis was believed to have looked during its heyday. I'm trying to stick to the Ancient Egypt theme the best I can.**

 **Things will pick up next chapter, be assured.**

 **Be sure to review.**


	15. Set

_**Set**_

When morning came, it was time for everyone to make their way to the palace. After pointing them in the right direction, Horus suggested that they all split into groups again, since a bunch of foreigners in the palace would definitely attract some attention. The prince, this time, went with Natsu, Lucy and Happy.

Soon they all made it to the palace, which was somehow even larger than the Temple of the Netjer. They were lead to what seemed to be the courtyard, which was surrounded by massive murals of various heroes and gods. Drummers were playing along the side. At the head of the area was what looked like a stone stage with a forest of columns behind them.

"Why is everything here so big?" Lucy asked, as she wrapped her arm around Natsu's.

"According to my father, Ra had a saying: 'for every stone you add to a structure, you give it another day'. The bigger the building, the longer it lasts. The longer the building lasts, the greater the legacy it leaves." He then glanced at the family.

"Did you ever give much thought to the legacy you would leave in this world?" The family seemed to think about it for a time. Lucy always thought of her novel to be her legacy; Happy had never given a thought to his legacy at all, but if asked, he'd say it was to help Natsu. But the commander was the only who decided to give a full answer.

"Iggy's my legacy," Natsu declared, "The world will be better with him in it, you can count on it." That surprised the others somewhat, but not for long.

"Yes," Lucy said firmly, smiling, "Our son is our greatest contribution."

"Aye sir!" Happy said, even though he wasn't necessarily related to Iggy. Horus looked the group up and down, before taking a breath. In Aaru, legacy was made by leaving something physical in the world, plowing your mark into it with your own will and determination. Just having a kid didn't seem like enough to him, but maybe it as just an Ishgar thing.

"I suppose that's as good as ever," he said with a shrug. With that, the group kept walking into the crowd. As they neared the stage, the Dragneel-Heartfilia family noticed several people gathered around the stage, dressed in extravagant clothing.

"Who are they?" Happy asked, pointing.

"Those are the members of the Royal Circle," Horus explained, making a face, "Set's closest allies and servants."

"Then who is she?" Lucy asked, pointing. She was pointing at a girl with long orange hair doing a dance at the head of the stage. She was dressed in skimpy clothing that was more than a little revealing. Horus clenched his teeth.

"Hathor," he said, more to himself than the others. Was this what Set had reduced her to? A dancer for his amusement? Horus' reaction was recognized by both Natsu and Lucy, who looked at each other, but their attention was seized by he sound of a horn sounded out across the area.

"Praise, Set!" a herald then proclaimed, "Pharaoh of all Aaru!" Hathor turned on her heels and bowed deeply, spreading her arms, as the other members of the court all fell to one knee. That was when Set appeared from behind the curtains

The first thing that came to everyone's mind when they saw him was "red". The pharaoh was a tall, lean man, with hair the same color of Erza's, with eyes somehow even redder. He was tanned, as if he spent every waking hour in the sun. He was garbed in bright red clothes, which included a red scale plate vest, red pants, and a flowing red cape dragging behind him. Atop his head was a crown made of what looked like black stone with a red disc at its top, and a snake and a vulture in its front. Strangely, despite being Horus' uncle, he didn't look that much older than him; perhaps it was from the Netjer.

Set smiled a he spread his arms, greeting his subjects who cheered for him, despite him usurping the rightful ruler. Once again, Natsu and Lucy, and even Wendy, were reminded of Edolas.

"From time in memoriam, we, the sons and daughters of Aaru, have been a people forged by the world around us. Our mother was the river, our father the desert," he said, "My grandfather forged this disparate land into a great kingdom, one that was the envy of the whole world. But we were never meant to remain here; nay, our future lies across the sea. We will bring our prosperity and our power to other nations, expanding our borders, across the world, starting with Ishgar. It shall be no challenge, for the people there are weak, with mages who bear no loyalty to their countries, and use their powers not to better their kingdoms around them, but to enrich their purses. What challenge could they possibly pose to us?" That made all the Fiore mages angry, but Natsu in particular trembled with rage. Lucy could see steam starting to leak from the corner of his mouth.

"We will crush them under our heel, and soon ever corner of this world will know the might of our empire! Long live Aaru!"

"Long live Aaru! Long live Set!" Lucy was somewhat surprised by how completely enthralled the people were with Set; she supposed she shouldn't have been all thing considered, especially because he had deposed their rightful ruler. But she didn't have time to dwell on those thoughts.

"SET!" The mages turned to see that Horus had launched himself from the crowd, his spear expanding from its staff form, bringing it down on Set. The pharaoh's reflexes kicked in, and he dodged the attack. As he looked up, his eyes widened at the sight of who was.

"Well, well, if it isn't my dear nephew?" he said.

"Horus!" Hathor cried, "What are you doing?" Meanwhile, the crowd was in awe over their prince suddenly reappearing.

"Horus!"

"Its the prince!"

"Prince Horus!"

"So the little prince has come home," Set said with a sneer.

"I've come to take back what you stole!" Horus declared, pointing his spear at his uncle. A couple of the others around text two moved forward, but Set held up his hand.

"He's challenged me," the pharaoh said, "I'll be the one to put him back in his place." He then held out his hand. Sand then gathered in his hand, before coalescing into a staff made out of black metal, save for a red top, which was of a sha's head.

Horus acted first, thrusting his spear forward, only for Set to easily parried the attack. He then swung his scepter up, sending an arc of sand into Horus' face, knocking him away. Horus quickly recovered, and stabbed at his uncle who again parried the strike. Trying to out maneuver his foe, Horus leapt into the air, spinning his spear through his hands, before swing it down. Set just laughed as he knocked Horus away.

"You aren't honestly half bad, far better than your father," he said, putting his scepter on his shoulder, "You know, Isis and I had something of a fling when we were younger." Immediately taking the bait, Horus roared as his body lit up, and he assumed his Netjer form. That earned some awed gasps, but Set didn't so much as flinch.

"Oh, so that's the game you want to play, nephew?" Set asked, "Very well, I can play it too." He then threw his staff into the air, and spread his arms

"I invoke the name of the Netjer," Set said, as his body glowed red, "Aspect of the Desert!" His body lit up the same way Horus' did, reforming into its Netjer form; like Horus' form, it was towering, and had skin that seemed to be made of metal. But unlike Horus, the metal that made Set's body was bright red, and his head was that of a sha, with glowing red eyes. He then reached up and caught his scepter. He then laughed, which looked positively ghoulish on his morphed face.

" **You think you can beat me, boy,"** Set said **, "Very well, then let's see you try."** Horus screeched and lunged at his uncle, tackling him, picking him up into the air. As the two wrestled in mid air, Set managed to sock Horus in the beak, causing the falcon man to drop him into the crowd, which scattered.

"What do we do?" Kagura asked.

"We hold for the time," Erza said, "I don't think foreigners interfering in their fight would do Horus' any favors." Though she really hoped Natsu had matured enough to realize that as well.

Horus dove through the air at his uncle, who simply swung his staff up, sending an arc of sand into his face, and back into the air. Gathering more sand, Set created a massive fist of stand, which grabbed the prince. Swing his scepter again, Set sent Horus into the ground. The falcon man emerged from the sand diving at his Uncle again, only for the sha man to catch his fist.

" **You're not bad, nephew,"** Set said, as he then grabbed Horus' throat, his metallic lips curling up to show a prominent set of fangs **, "But you're still nowhere near my level."** He then socked Horus' in the stomach with the head of his scepter. He then bludgeoned his nephew several times, until giving him one solid strike, sending Horus careening away. Upon landing, Horus reverted to his normal form. He tried to stand up as Set approached him, reverting to his human form.

"I don't know where've you been these past years," Set said as he put his foot on Horus' chest, "But you clearly haven't been spending it getting better." Horus tried to push his uncle up, but Set only pressed harder. That was when Horus' new comrades decided to act.

"You bastard" Natsu roared as he sprung at Set. Set only had enough time to raise his staff to block, as the force of Natsu's pushed him back.

"Star Dress: Taurus!" Lucy said as she went to back up her husband. Coming down with her whip, she aimed for Set, only for another woman with a pixie haircut to intercept her, and kick her away.

"Lucy!" Natsu called, immediately turn his attention back to his wife, as he caught her, "You okay?"

"Fine," Lucy said as she got to her feet.

"Who are you?" Set demanded as he pointed his staff at the newcomers.

"Natsu Dragneel!" Natsu said, before Lucy could think of a story, "Commander in the Fiore Royal Army!" Opting to take the initiative, Happy assumed his battle form, and joined his family, ready to fight. Set looked at them closely, showing teeth that were somehow just as sharp as they were in his Netjer form.

"Foreign mages," he said as he stepped forward, spinning his scepter through his fingers, "Ones from Ishgar at that. So this is what the son of Osiris resorts to? Having foreigners fight his battles for him?" Boos sounded out across the crowd.

"That's pretty strange coming from a traitor who usurped his own brother!" Lucy said. Set listened to that, only to let out a laugh.

"Is that the story Horus told you?" he asked.

"What of it?"

"Let's just say it's something of a conundrum, usurping a usurper."

"Usurper?" Happy asked.

"Your charge's father only became pharaoh because his parents drove Ra away," Set said, pointing at Horus, "And now he enlists foreigners to usurp the government? He is a traitor to the kingdom." The Fiore mages all stared at Horus, was doing his best not to look at them.

"While you may have been played for fools, I will commend you on your fighting ability," Set said, "After we conquer your nation, you will make fine soldiers."

"Screw you" Natsu snapped, as his fists ignited, "I don't care about Horus right now! All I care about is protecting the kingdom!" Before he could attack, though, the people Horus identified as the Royal Circle appeared behind Set.

"Natsu!" Lucy said, grabbing his arm, "We can't do anything now! We've got to go!" Fortunately, the soldier in Natsu kicked on, and his rational side emerged. He gestured to Happy, who picked up both of them, and flew up. Horus also assumed his falcon form and flew away.

During this, the other mages had been biding their time, trying to figure out what to do. But when the soldiers were retreating, most of them decided to do the same. Horus then let out a screech. Looking back, the Fiore mages noticed tendrils of sand coiled around him, coming from Set's staff.

"I'm afraid you and I still much to discuss, nephew," Set said cruelly as the tendrils pulled Horus back. Once they were close enough, Set waved his hand, and the tendrils wreathed and coalesced into a bird cage, trapping Horus inside. The transformed prince let out a screech.

"After them!" one of the soldiers said as the others ran into the streets to find the trespassers.

"What about Horus?" Wendy asked.

"We can't do anything for him now," Erza said, "We need to regroup and figure out our next step." As they fled with the soldiers in pursuit, Set just watched.

"What should we do, my Lord?" one of Set's servants asked.

"Spread the word," Set said, turning to him with a grin, "The invasion has been moved up."

"My Lord?"

"Foreign agents infiltrated our ceremony with the support of a rebel to the throne," Set said, "Let be said that the Kingdom of Aaru is declaring war on the Kingdom of Fiore. They will taste the justice of Aaru!"

 **Note: Aren't Natsu and Lucy proud parents?**

 **Anyone who knows Ancient Egyptian mythology should know what Set looks like. As for the staff he has, its called a "Was" scepter, which was a symbol of pharaonic power. The crown is based on the dreshet crown mostly, albeit black instead of red.**

 **I hope the duel between Set and Horus was fun to read.**

 **Be sure to review.**


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